Phantom Of Middleton
by Howard blake
Summary: Danny Fenton was exhausted. Ever since his family moved to Middleton when he was five, life had been easy. He had good friends, good grades, and a loving (if a bit eccentric) family. Unfortunately, life was never easy ever since he got zapped by the Ghost Portal. Now all he knew were sleepless nights trying to catch runaway ghosts. Come to think of it, maybe he could use some help.
1. Prologue

**What up guys? I felt really nostalgic for some reason and then poof. Fair warning, I don't really remember all the episodes and details but I remember the basics along with the episodes that I like so if I miss or forget something, then I apologize in advance. Hope you enjoy. I don't own DP or KP.**

* * *

Middleton High school was in full swing this Tuesday morning. Teenagers were strolling around, idly chatting with their friends and goofing off before their next class. One teenager in particular was rummaging through his cluttered locker.

"Ron, we're going to be late!" Kim Possible, world renowned teen hero, scolded her friend lightly. She rolled her eyes as she watched him toss out a rotten banana that must have been weeks old.

"Just a sec KP," Ron Stoppable said, throwing out another crumpled piece of paper. "I gotta get Rufus out of here or else he might miss spirit week. The little guy would be crushed."

"Yeah, by the amount of stuff you have in there." Kim said.

Ron shouted in triumph as he finally found what he was looking for. "Rufus!"

In his hand, a tiny pink naked mole rat yawned and stretched as if it just woke up from a nap.

Kim didn't know why but her best friend just absolutely refused to get a normal pet for himself. She was just about to say as much but then her train of thought took a nosedive when Josh walked by. She barely even noticed the hand that was waving in front of her face.

"Hello? Kim? You there?" Ron said, snapping her out of her crush induced daze.

"Huh? Did you say something Ron?" Kim said, watching as Josh walked away after putting up a poster for the upcoming dance on Friday.

He followed her line of sight and spotted Mankey disappearing down the hall.

Ron shook his head. "Kim Possible, all around crime fighter and shark wrestler, afraid of a teenage guy."

"A really hot teenage guy," Kim corrected. "I just can't seem to find the right moment to ask him to the dance."

A familiar beeping tone sounded from her backpack and she quickly brought out her communicator or as she liked to call it, the "Kimmunicator".

"Talk to me Wade." Kim said. The screen displayed a young boy surrounded by multiple computers.

"Meet me at your locker." He said before he disconnected the call.

The two teens rushed down the halls but someone had just rounded the corner around the same time as they did. Kim collided into the person and fell backward on her butt.

"Are you okay?" She heard him say before a hand was offered to her and she took it.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry." Kim said. She finally got a good look at who she ran into and she had to hold back a startled gasp.

Deep sky blue eyes peered back at her and for some reason she found herself at a loss for words. The boy standing in front of her was slightly taller than both her and Ron, a fact that she never noticed before. He wore a plain black shirt under his unzipped white jacket along with jeans and sneakers. He didn't look as freakish as the rumors made him out to be. In fact, he looked quite, dare she say it, kind of cute.

"Uh do I have something on my face?" He asked.

As soon as the words left his mouth, Kim flushed as she realized that she had been staring at him. "No! No, it's just-"

"Kim, we got a mission remember?" Ron reminded her before she could finish.

"Right, um we'll just get going." Kim excused herself and resumed their dash to her locker.

"See you around Danny!" Ron called back.

The raven-haired teen gave him a two finger salute in return before walking off in the opposite direction.

Kim sent a questioning look toward her friend.

"What?" Ron asked. "I hang out with him sometimes. He's a cool dude. I don't know why everyone avoids him."

"We'll talk about this later." Kim said, a tad bit annoyed that her best friend failed to mention that fact.

They opened her locker and found Wade printing out their new mission. Apparently, Dr. Drakken was in Tokyo taking over a video game factory of all places. While Ron excitedly chattered about the new Z-boy as they made their way out of school, her thoughts drifted back towards the boy she had heard a lot about but never truly interacted with until today.

She had to admit that she was a bit curious as to how Ron of all people managed to approach Danny Fenton, the enigma of Middleton High.

* * *

Danny sighed as he shoved his locker closed after putting away the books he won't need for the night. The day seemed to drag on longer than he thought. Fortunately for him, he actually managed to make it to school on time, which was a rare occurrence nowadays. Danny not being tardy meant that Mr. Barkin had no reason to assign him detention.

Best of all, there wasn't a single ghost attack for the past two nights. Two nights of a full uninterrupted sleep had never felt so good…

Double checking his bag, he zipped it close and started to navigate through the waves of students that were all heading home. To be honest, it wasn't that hard. Everyone pretty much thought he was invisible and anyone else who did acknowledge his presence quickly veered away from him. Yep, that was just one of the perks of being the resident outcast.

It all started a year ago after his accident down in his parent's lab. He had tried convincing himself that it had all been some messed up dream until he literally fell through the floor of his own room. And so it all went downhill from there. To the rest of his classmates, it was as if he had suddenly forgotten how to walk and use his hands with how clumsy he became. It got so bad that he wasn't even allowed to handle beakers and other school equipment after he broke a couple dozen. However, what they didn't know was that it was just his ghost powers acting up.

If he had known that trying to fix that portal to cheer his parents up would give him ghost powers, then he probably would have never even set foot in the lab to begin with and would have just bought them a cake or something to cheer them up. His abilities were more trouble than they were worth.

It was an absolute nightmare for the first month. Trying to evade the notice of his parents, the leading ghost experts in the entire world, was no easy feat. Granted that his parents could be a bit dense at times, but they still managed to keep him on his toes by building new inventions that never failed to either be useful to him or be a pain in the ass.

Danny had been planning to tell them early on but every time the opportunity presented itself, he always ended up blurting out something else. The phrase "rip apart molecule by molecule" that his parents often used when talking about ghosts never failed to trigger his instinct for self-preservation, but it was more than that. He was afraid of how they would react to the news. Would they be happy that their son was into the ghost hunting business? Would they be angry because of all the lies or disappointed by his lack of trust?

Danny wished he had the answers because he sure as hell didn't know, but for the time being, his parents were better off not knowing, especially after the reunion in Wisconsin…

He had no idea how long this truce between them would last but if he exposed himself now, there was no telling what the other one would do.

It was becoming harder to pull the curtain over his parents nowadays due to the fact that Jazz already left for college. She had been the only person to figure out his secret and had even covered for him whenever she could. There were several close calls that would have revealed his secret had Jazz not been there. Danny would never admit this to her in person but he really did miss his older sister. She was always the voice of reason that kept him grounded.

The young half-ghost let out a morose sigh at the way his life turned out. He had been too busy thinking about the events of the past year that he didn't realize where his feet were taking him. He now stood just outside the open double doors of the gym where the cheerleaders of Middleton High were practicing.

* * *

"Go Mad Dogs! Go Mad Dogs!"

The cheerleaders chanted along to the beat of their choreography. They've been practicing the new routine for over a week and they nearly have it down perfectly. The finale was an incomplete pyramid formation because unfortunately, their so-called captain was called away on another mission.

"Good job girls, I think we're done for today." Bonnie spoke to the rest of the girls. "Same time tomorrow,"

"Think Kim will be here for it?" One of the girls asked sarcastically. It had become something of an inside joke among them. They had nothing against their captain but sometimes it was frustrating to have Kim away when they needed to practice.

"Oh, who knows?" Another replied. "Let's just go home, my feet are killing me."

"Okay let's pack it up!" Bonnie said and they all started heading towards the changing rooms.

As they picked up their bags, Bonnie overheard a couple of her team members mumbling with each other and pointing at the doors. Curiously, she followed their gaze and was surprised to see a person standing there watching them. She knew who he was right away by the jacket and his trademark messy raven hair. As soon as Bonnie made eye contact with said person, he immediately ducked his head and left.

"Man what a freak." Chelsea, one of their members whispered to her friend.

"Yeah, I know right?" her friend, Emily, replied. "And apparently he's a creep too. How long has he been standing there?"

"You shut your stupid face, bitch!" Someone hissed out.

The two girls were surprised by the fierce glare Bonnie was giving them. They also noted how the girl's hands were clenched into fists at her side.

"Whoa, chill out Bonnie." Chelsea said. "What's the big deal?"

"Yeah, I mean even you have to admit how weird Fenton is." Emily added. "Something's not right with that guy."

"Shut the hell up!" Bonnie got right up in their faces. "If I hear you say one more thing about Danny, I will personally make your lives a living hell, got it?"

The two girls gulped and hastily nodded before rushing out of the gym, not wanting to inflict any more of Bonnie's wrath.

The tan girl watched the two tramps leave before feeling a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see her friend Tara, giving her a sad smile.

"Don't say it Tara." Bonnie snapped at the blonde.

The girl gave a dejected sigh. "Please, Bonnie? You know how Danny is and at this rate, he won't want to talk to us if he thinks you're still mad at him."

"I am still mad at him!" Bonnie growled. "It's been a year Tara! He's had plenty of chances to come talk to us. Obviously he doesn't care, so why should we make an effort?"

"But I do!" Tara argued. "I care and so do you. The three of us have been friends since first grade. There has to be a reason why he's avoiding us all this time."

"Don't you get it Tara? Danny doesn't want to be friends with us anymore!" Bonnie exclaimed heatedly. "He doesn't talk to us for a month after his accident and when we do finally manage to corner him, he blows up in our faces! Do you think you're the only one who wants things to go back to the way they were? Do you think you're the only one who cried herself to sleep when our best friend told us he didn't want to be around us anymore?!"

By this point, tears were freely trailing down Bonnie's face as she ended her rant and Tara wasn't any better off. Before she knew it, the blonde had already wrapped her arms around her friend and the two of them quietly sobbed. Fortunately for them, the rest of their team had already left the school so there was no one there to witness their tears.

"I just miss him, so much." Bonnie sniffled, pulling away from the hug.

"Me too." Tara said wiping her tear stained face with her hands.

And so, the two friends made their way to the locker rooms to change out of their cheerleading uniforms before heading home. Their thoughts still turned to a certain raven-haired boy who had always been there for them through thick and thin. Nowadays, they were lucky to even catch a glimpse of him at school.

Sometimes, they couldn't help but think how much of a ghost Danny has become in their lives…

* * *

 **And done. Hope you guys like it. Tell me what you think and review, review, review!**


	2. No Rest For The Weary

**Next chapter, here we go!**

* * *

"See ya tomorrow KP!" Ron called out, waving as he headed home.

Kim turned in the other direction and started walking toward her house. The two friends had just gotten back from Japan where Drakken and Shego managed to escape with an entire factory. Although to be honest, she had no idea what her arch enemy wanted with a video game assembly line. The mad scientist's schemes only seemed to get weirder with every encounter.

Wade was currently tracking Drakken's movements and he would contact her the moment he got a hit on something.

It was an hour past midnight when she reached the Possible residence and she tried to be as quiet as she could when she entered so as not to wake anyone. However, she was a bit surprised to learn she wasn't the only one still up at this hour judging from the light and sounds coming from the living room.

"What are you tweebs doing?" Kim asked suspiciously, placing her hands on her hips.

Her twin brothers jumped at the sound of her voice.

"Don't sneak up on us like that!" Jim said in a hushed tone.

"Yeah, and keep it down." Tim added before turning back to the television.

"Shouldn't you two be in bed?" Kim said before turning her attention to what they were watching. Surprisingly, it was some sort of news story. "And what's so interesting about this that you had to sneak down here and watch it at one o'clock in the morning?"

"Shut up, it's starting." Jim shushed her.

"In other news, local residents of downtown Lowerton reported a disturbance call to the police earlier this evening. Residents claimed to have heard a series of loud noises coming from the streets as well as a series of flashing green lights. However, when police came onto the scene, they found nothing but a broken street lamp as well as a destroyed mini-van. The investigators believe that this disturbance may be related to the many similar occurrences throughout the city these past two months. The local authorities managed to acquire footage from a nearby traffic camera which caught part of the incident."

The screen then cut to a recording from the said street cam that was focused on a small intersection. The street was empty save for a homeless man pushing an old shopping cart full of odds and trinkets. The old man was simply crossing the road when he suddenly gained a look of panic. He was staring at something down the opposite road where the camera had no visual. Whatever he saw must have been frightening because the homeless person started running as far away as he could, not even hesitating to leave his shopping cart behind.

A few seconds after, the homeless person was no longer visible on the camera, a sudden flash of green engulfed the street that caused the street cam to lose focus for a bit as it tried to adjust from the unexpected source of light. However, while the camera was recovering, a blurry hulking form lumbered past the street followed by a fast yet smaller form. The footage then paused as the reporter came back on screen.

"The only witness during the time of the supposed encounter was identified as Aaron Stevenson, a fifty year old male who was recently unemployed. The police have yet to issue an official statement regarding the incident…"

The newscast then showcased another headline, something about sightings of dragons in New York but apparently the twins had already lost interest.

"That…" Jim said.

"Was…" Tim continued.

"Awesome!" The two exclaimed in unison as they high-fived each other.

The light switch to the living room abruptly flicked on and standing next to it were two very unhappy parents still clad in their pajamas.

"Uh oh…"

"Hey don't look at me, I just got here." Kim raised her hands in surrender.

"BOYS!"

* * *

Tara tried her best to keep up with the calculus lesson, she really did, but unfortunately, her mind was elsewhere at the moment. She stole a glance at the empty seat beside her and couldn't help but wonder what kind of excuse Danny would make up this time. It was already second period and he was running late…again.

She just didn't get it. Where does he go all the time? What was so important that he had to skip class for it? Was he alright?

Questions floated through her mind that she desperately wanted the answers to. She wanted to know why he started avoiding everyone, even going so far as to alienate himself from the entire student body and ignore his two best friends since childhood. It just didn't make any sense for Danny Fenton, the boy who she thought of as the brother she never had, to just up and leave them like this.

"Well, well, well. Look who decided to show up today." The teacher announced. Tara looked up from her notebook just in time to see Danny stumble through the door. "You know the drill Mr. Fenton."

Her friend just gave a resigned sigh and took the detention slip without complaint. A few members of the class snickered at the young man's predicament and Tara scowled at them. The raven-haired teen wordlessly took his spot beside her and began taking down notes.

The blonde discreetly studied her friend from the corner of her eyes. Frankly, he looked exhausted. There were dark circles under his eyes and Tara could see he was struggling to keep himself awake. The shirt beneath his jacket was inside out, meaning he must have dressed in a hurry. He shifted in his seat and when he did, something caught her attention that made her stifle a gasp.

Wrapped around his wrist underneath his left jacket sleeve was a bandage that was splotched with red blood.

She must have been staring at it too intently because Danny noticed what she was looking at and immediately pulled his sleeves over the bandage. Tara gave her friend a questioning look but as usual he tried his best to ignore her. Well, she wasn't having it this time.

"Ms. Turner! Danny needs to go to the nurse's office!" Tara called the teacher's attention. Heads swiveled in her direction.

"And why would he need to?" Ms. Turner raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

Tara reached over and grabbed Danny's sleeve before he had time to react. He gave a surprised yelp in protest until she pulled his sleeves up to reveal his bandages but to her shock and worry, the white medical wrap actually extended all the way up to his elbow.

"I see your point Ms. Williams." Ms. Turner said after a slight pause. "Please take Mr. Fenton to the nurse."

She smiled triumphantly while Danny reluctantly followed her out of the classroom.

The two of them walked the halls in awkward silence. Now that the two of them were finally alone, Tara wanted to start a conversation but for the life of her she didn't know what to say. When did it all turn out like this? In the past, she could talk to Danny about anything and everything but now, she might as well be walking next to a complete stranger.

She hated it.

"You're welcome, you know." Tara spoke, a hint of bitterness leaking out.

"I didn't need your help." Danny said calmly. "I'm fine."

"Bullshit!"

The raven-haired teen looked slightly taken back by her sudden fierce response. He knew that she rarely cursed so he must have sensed how serious she was.

"You're not fine and don't you dare deny it Fenton!" Tara nearly screamed in anger. "I hate it, Danny! I hate this! By this, I mean the fact that we barely see or talk anymore! And even when we do see you, you always have some excuse to leave or just flat out ignore me and Bonnie. I know things have been rough ever since the accident but why did you have to push us away?"

She was crying now as she felt the hot tears trailing down her cheek. "Did you think we would have laughed at you like everyone else? Did you think that we would have been embarrassed by all the times your pants fell down? NO! We wouldn't have cared. We've been friends since pre-school Danny but now you act like we've never met before today. Plus, your grades have been slipping, you're always late, and you always look so tired. We're worried about you Danny."

Danny's shoulder slumped and he couldn't meet her eyes. "Tara…I just have some issues that I need to work out…"

She could see the conflicted look on his face along with the vast array of emotions he tried to hide. He had the same look on his face when he wanted to tell her that her pet dog Snuffles had gotten run-over by a truck. He wanted to hide the truth from her so that she would be spared from any heartbreak. Well, to hell with that. She wasn't seven years old anymore.

"Then let me and Bonnie help!" Tara pleaded as she forced him to look at her. "The three of us have always worked out our problems together. Please, Danny."

It was almost as if he was struggling to come up with a response. She saw the swarm of conflicting thoughts in his eyes. She could tell that the part of him she knew as her best friend had heard her and was trying to reach out. However, a more determined part of him refused to budge and eventually he gave her a look of resignation.

"I'm sorry, Tara….but I can't."

It hurt. His words cut through her so deeply that she had to choke back another sob that was building up in her throat. It hurt because this was the same boy that always cheered her up whenever she felt sad. This was the boy who took the blame for her when she accidentally threw up in someone's lunchbox during elementary school. It just hurt so much…

And so she ran.

* * *

"Yikes," Ron winced as Kim recounted the rather eventful evening at the Possible household.

"Suffice to say, the tweebs will be doing my chores for the rest of the month." Kim said jovially.

"Well, I can't say I blame them." Ron said. The two friends had just finished putting their books in their lockers and were on their way out of school. "I mean did you see the footage? It was so badical!"

Kim rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me you believe in those "ghost reports" too."

"I'm telling you KP, a lot of weird stuff's been going on!" Ron insisted. Rufus poked his head out of Ron's pocket and nodded as well and squeaked "Ghosts!"

"Like the time you said there was green slime all over your backyard?" Kim raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"I forgot to turn off the sprinklers and the water washed it all away by the time you got there."

"So did the sprinklers wash away the annoying "Box Ghost" hiding in the school locker rooms?"

"He was totally real! Rufus saw him too."

The two of them had been so engrossed in their conversation that they didn't notice someone in front of them until Kim collided with him. They were a bit surprised by who it was they bumped into.

"You know, we really should stop meeting like this." Danny Fenton joked, but you could tell his heart wasn't into it.

Kim felt her face flush in slight embarrassment for bumping into him for the second time. "Sorry."

The raven-haired teen shrugged. "I'll say it again, No harm done."

"So dude, what's up?" Ron asked.

"Nothing much, I was just about to head home." Danny replied a bit vacantly. He looked like he had something heavy on his mind if the small frown on his face was any indication.

Now that she wasn't rushing off to class, Kim took the time to really observe the boy.

If she had to choose a word to describe him, it would be average. From his clothes to his hair, it all seemed kind of generic. He wasn't bad looking at all but anyone would still be hard pressed to spot him in a crowd unless they were really looking for him. However, he did have a redeeming quality.

His eyes were the most vibrant blue she had ever seen and it had been the first thing to catch her attention when they literally ran into each other yesterday. They were quite mesmerizing…

"….KP?" Ron's voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Uh sorry, what were you saying Ron?"

"I asked if you wouldn't mind letting Danny tag along to Bueno Nacho." Ron repeated. "Jeez, get your head out of the clouds Kim. I kept telling you to ask him at lunch."

"Ask who at lunch?" Danny asked, confused.

"Mankey," her friend said. "Kim's crushing on him hard."

"Ron!" Kim hissed indignantly.

The blond merely ignored his friend's embarrassment and turned to Danny. "So how about it dude? They have Nacos~"

Danny shifted and scratched his head. "I don't know Ron. I think I'll just head home."

"Nope sorry can't let you do that." Ron held up a hand as if to stop him. "Today is finally the day I show you the greatness of a Naco. And I'm willing to use any means necessary. Do your thing KP."

"Oh fine."

Kim then turned to Danny and unleashed her most lethal weapon, the Puppy Dog Pout.

"Uh what is she doing?" Danny asked Ron, a hint of nervousness creeping into his voice. The blond gave no reply and just gave him a cheeky grin. Kim decided to up the ante by making her lower lip quiver. Danny's eye twitched as he tried to resist her look but she could see his defenses starting to crack.

"Alright, I'll go! Just stop looking at me like that!"

"Booyah!" Ron pumped his fists.

Kim mentally patted herself on the back. No one could beat her Puppy Dog Pout and she had to admit to herself that maybe inviting him along wouldn't be so bad. While Danny was definitely a mystery, he seemed like an okay guy. If he was nice to Ron, who many people saw as a goofball, then he was alright in her books.

Who knows? She might finally find out why he suddenly went from Middleton Soccer Captain with straight A's to social outcast.

* * *

If it hadn't been for his little confrontation with Tara earlier, then Danny might have actually enjoyed his time with Kim and Ron. He tried his best to appear as if nothing was bothering him so as not to ruin their good mood but to be honest, he wanted nothing more than to go home and take his frustrations out on some ghost.

The day did not kick-off to a good start. He overslept because he had to chase some mutated ghost bear all across town, scaring away some homeless guy in the process. To top it off, his parents had caught him trying to sneak back into the house at three in the morning which earned him a month of added chores. Oh and let's not forget his spat with Tara.

Life must be having a field day by kicking him in the nuts today.

The guilt he felt as soon as she ran almost made him want to chase her and confess everything right then and there. Danny just couldn't stand the look on her face. She looked so hurt and betrayed that it made his chest ache. He could only imagine how Bonnie must be feeling about all of this.

But no, he couldn't tell them. Danny made a promise to himself that he would never involve them. He had considered telling the girls after he had been learning to deal with his powers for a month but then his dad had dragged them all to Wisconsin for their college reunion…

Back then, the ghosts he fought had only been a constant annoyance that kept getting in the way of his normal life. However, the reality of the situation quickly became apparent after meeting Vlad Plasmius. Their encounter made it clear that Danny was severely outmatched and he had only managed to come to a stalemate because of his gross fixation on his mother.

He got lucky.

Danny replayed their fight over and over in his head for several days after that. The older ghost hybrid had years of experience over him and was clearly a threat due to Vlad knowing his secret identity. What would happen if Vlad decided to end their little cease-fire and attacked? What if there were other ghosts just as, if not more, powerful than Vlad out there? Would he be able to protect the people he cared about?

It was with these questions in mind that he decided to drift away from his two best friends so that they could live their lives free from the burdens of ghosts and psychotic fruit loops. He'd just have to bear with Bonnie's constant glares and Tara's sad glances. So far, it was easier said than done.

"Danny? Are you okay?" He heard Kim address him. The two of them were looking at him in concern.

He quickly plastered on a smile. "Yeah, just thinking about stuff, I guess."

God that sounded lame.

Kim and Ron exchanged looks. He could tell that they weren't convinced. Danny knew that they would ask questions about it so he decided to beat them to the punch by changing the topic.

"So, when did you guys start doing your save-the-world thing?" Danny asked in curiosity. While it was true that he just wanted to avoid any uncomfortable questions, he always did wonder how Team Possible came to be.

"We actually started as a baby-sitting website but then things kind of just snowballed from there." Kim said.

The two crime fighters decided to recount some of their adventures for him and Danny had to admit that he sort of envied them. Kim and Ron sounded like they were having the time of their lives travelling the world and helping people. He also couldn't help but wonder how on earth they could maintain their grades, mostly in Kim's case because he knew Ron was fine with being an average student, while he was barely scraping up C's in his tests.

The way the two of them filled in the gaps in each other's stories brought up memories of his own and for a moment, he saw three kids in front of him. The two girls and one boy in his mind's eye were just talking and laughing at silly things.

He'd give almost anything to go back to that. A simpler time with his two best friends…

However, reality slapped him back to his senses as a shiver made its way from the base of his spine. He barely managed to cover his mouth to cover up the blue mist that escaped.

Seriously, it had to be now?

Danny concentrated and tried to get a lock on the ghost's position. After many months of practicing with his Ghost Sense, he was now able to get a lock on a ghost's ecto-signature as long as it was within a certain range as well as determine how powerful it was. Right now, he could tell that the ghost was just a few blocks away and didn't seem like the type that would be a hassle to deal with.

Still, any ghost, no matter how weak, could still cause a bit of trouble.

"And do you remember that time with Drakken when he—." Whatever Ron was saying was interrupted when Danny abruptly stood.

"I just remembered something that I have to do for my parents!" Danny said. "Really sorry about this but I gotta run! I'll see you guys tomorrow!"

With that, he grabbed his backpack and didn't even bother to wait for a response as he ran out the door. He jogged down a few blocks before ducking into an alley. He checked the surrounding area to see if the coast was clear.

"Going ghost!"

A white ring flashed into existence and transformed him into his ghost half. He quickly turned invisible and flew to the ghost's location. He arrived at an empty warehouse after a few minutes and started scanning the building for any sign of the specter.

It was only after a brief glance that he realized what was inside the warehouse: Boxes and crates.

"Oh no," Danny groaned in annoyance. "You can't be serious."

As if on cue, the portly ghost made himself known….rather loudly as usual.

"I AM THE BOX GHOST!"

Yep, without a doubt, this day sucked major balls.

"I bet Kim and Ron don't have to deal with this type of crap."

Unbeknownst to the young halfa, a blue skinned mad scientist sneezed in his evil lair.

* * *

Meanwhile, inside a large manor resembling a castle found in Wisconsin, a ghost in high-tech armor phased into an office where a lone figure sat behind his desk watching multiple holographic screens, each of them displaying a certain ghost boy fighting a variety of his experiments. The figure sitting in the chair didn't even turn bother to face the new arrival.

"Report," The man said, barely lifting his eyes from a particular battle.

"The whelp is the same as ever: brash and annoying." Skulker informed his employer. "He's currently chasing after that infuriating Box Ghost as we speak."

The man in the chair pushed a button on his desk and a new screen popped up to display live footage. The chubby blue ghost was flying for his after-life as a black and white figure easily gained on him. He shouted out one last "Beware!" before getting sucked into a thermos.

"The little badger has improved quite a bit since the last time we fought." The man absently noted to himself before smirking. "Excellent, things are moving along quite nicely."

"Easy for you to say." Skulker grumbled. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep ghosts at bay so that you can play your little games? The others are becoming more aggressive and I won't be able to hold them off forever even with all the new weapons you've given me."

"You're in luck then, because starting today you will be relieved of that duty." The man spoke up.

The hunter of the Ghost Zone's eyes widened. "Are you sure?"

"Indeed I am." The man stood from his desk and gazed out of a nearby window. "I've merely been delaying the inevitable just for this. I've kept the existence of ghosts a secret for as long as I can but alas, I can only do so much before the world finally catches on. Fortunately, I've spent my time wisely and all the pieces are set. Once the ghosts are revealed to the public, then it will only be a matter of time before I get what I want."

The man turned back to the screen where the young ghost boy was displayed.

"Does this mean I can finally continue my hunt?"

Vlad Masters threw him an evil smirk. "Consider it open season. You and your brethren are now free to run rampant as you see fit. Enjoy."

A hungry grin made its way onto the Hunter's face as his arm morphed into a blaster.

"Oh, believe me, we will."

* * *

 **Hope you enjoyed that and don't worry as more things will be explained down the line. By the way, a cookie to anyone who can spot the little Easter egg I put in this chapter. So review review!**


	3. Out In The Open

**Let's get this show on the road. Special shout out to Dragonrule for spotting the easter egg from last chapter. It was American Dragon: Jake Long by the way. Anyways, back to the story.**

* * *

"Mr. Fenton!"

"Fudge brownies!" The poor guy jerked awake, banged his knees under his desk, and found himself face to face with a very irate History teacher. She felt a pang of sympathy for the teen as the rest of their classmates merely laughed while he got chewed out. Danny winced every time the words like "irresponsible" and "lazy" were being used to describe him. The rant ended with him being told to stay after class.

Kim found herself glancing at him from the corner of her eye and saw that he really was trying to pay attention. Ever since Ron had brought him along to Bueno Nacho the other day, she began to take notice of Danny Fenton.

The one thing that always struck a chord in her mind was the accident in the beginning of sophomore year. Apparently, one of his parents' inventions malfunctioned and he had to be taken to the hospital for a couple of days. Kim only knew that fact because Tara and Bonnie had skipped out on cheerleading practice on those dates.

To be honest, Kim had expected him to come back to school in a wheelchair because of all the rumors speculating on how bad it was. As it turned out, he was perfectly fine with all of his limbs still intact. However, she couldn't say the same for his clumsiness. Danny was tripping and falling all over the place, often finding himself in embarrassing situations. It wasn't long before he started to distance himself from everyone. He also quit the soccer team for some reason and his grades slipped from A's to D's.

And then there was that huge fight last year….

The bell signaling the end of class rung and Kim began to trail behind everyone else as they made their way out of the room. The red-head saw that Danny was still desperately writing down the notes on the board before they were erased. He looked like he could really use some tutoring.

Coming to a decision, Kim opted to wait for the raven-haired teen outside of the classroom. After all, it really wasn't that much of a big deal. She was fairly smart, a bonus of having a neurosurgeon and a rocket scientist for parents, and she tutored Ron a couple of times before so how hard could it be?

Danny stepped out a few minutes later and looked slightly surprised to see her standing there in the hall.

"Oh hey, Kim, do you need something from Mr. Carter?" Danny asked.

"No. Actually, I was kind of waiting for you." Kim admitted. She noted how awkward that sounded. Come to think of it, this was the first time she had spoken to Danny without anyone else around.

"Why?" Danny asked.

"See I noticed that you seem to have a problem with staying awake in class." Kim said. "And I know difficult that can be sometimes so I was wondering if you….wanted any help?"

Danny blinked at her for a moment. He seemed to be studying her and the red-head felt a tad bit uncomfortable being scrutinized under his intense gaze.

"I mean, if you don't want extra tutoring then that's fine too." Kim hastily added. "I understand if—"

"No!" Danny blurted out. "Really, I'd appreciate it. I need all the help I could get, to be honest. But are you sure about this? I don't want to impose."

"Oh please," Kim waved him off. "I wouldn't have offered if I wasn't willing. Besides I'm Kim Possible, the girl who can do anything."

The raven-haired teen chuckled at her bold statement and Kim's brain subconsciously noted how nice he looked when he smiled. Granted that it was more of a half-grin than a full blown one but all the same, it suited him far better than his usual moping expression.

He held out his hand and she shook it.

"Well then Ms. Possible, I dearly hope you can live up to that." Danny spoke in a refined British accent. "But seriously, please help!"

* * *

Danny never knew that a naked mole rat could eat so much. It really was fascinating to watch Rufus devour half a Sloppy Joe sandwich that was at least twice his size. Kind of makes him wonder where the little guy puts it all away. Once he finished, he let out a loud burp and patted his bloated tummy in contentment.

"So Danny, why'd you bail on us yesterday?" Ron asked through a mouthful of his own sandwich.

"Ron!" Kim scolded the blond. "At least swallow before you start spewing chunks all over us."

The blond teen merely shrugged before taking another huge bite out of his sandwich.

Danny accepted their offer to sit with them because frankly, he was tired of sitting alone in the corner. Having someone else to talk to was a nice change of pace. Plus, he had been a little rude for leaving them so abruptly without a proper explanation so he thought that he could at least make up for that.

"Well my parents had asked me to pick up a few things from the hardware store and I sort of forgot." Danny replied. The fact that the lie had rolled off his tongue so smoothly made him internally wince in guilt.

"No biggie dude, we understand." Ron was about to take another bite when he suddenly looked like he had been struck by brilliance. "Although, now that you mention it, aren't your parents Ghost Hunters or something?"

Kim sighed in irritation. "Oh here we go…"

"What about it?" Danny asked, feeling slightly uncomfortable with the sudden interest.

"So you probably know a little something about Ghosts right?" Ron questioned.

 _Buddy, you have no idea._ Danny thought to himself.

"Give it a rest already Ron." Kim said in exasperation. "It's clear that Danny doesn't want to hear any of your crazy ghost theories. I'm sure that there's a logical explanation to those Ghost reports that you and the tweebs like to watch."

Danny's spoon slipped out of his hand and clattered loudly on top of his tray.

"Are you okay?" Kim asked. "You look a little pale."

The raven-haired teen quickly tried to mask his surprise by forcing a smile. "I'm fine. What were you saying about these ghost reports?"

"It's this stupid late night news broadcast." Kim explained. "They usually air around after midnight or so. Personally, I think it's just a huge waste of time."

"Oh come on, KP!" Ron whined. "You saw it too. It was caught on a traffic light camera and it scared away that poor hobo two nights ago! There's no way that could be fake!"

"Someone could have edited that video for all we know and that "hobo" could have been an actor." Kim refuted. "Maybe they were just trying to boost their ratings or something."

Ron continued to protest but Danny wasn't really listening anymore. His mind was too busy processing everything he had just heard. Two nights ago was when he had been chasing that escaped ghost bear. He had been so busy trying to make sure it didn't cause too much damage to think about anything else.

He always made sure to avoid the more populated areas whenever he fought and yet somehow they still managed to catch glimpses of his battles. Danny could only hope that most of the people watching the program would remain skeptical like Kim. From now on, he was going to have to take extra precautions.

 _Damn it, as if I didn't have enough to worry about._ Danny cursed internally. _This can't possibly get any worse._

And little did he know that his problems were just getting started.

"Uh, KP, is it just me or is my sandwich floating?"

Danny's blood turned cold and luckily for him, his two companions were too busy staring at Ron's levitating half-eaten sandwich to notice the blue mist that escaped his mouth.

* * *

Chickens don't fly.

That was Bonnie first coherent thought as her grilled chicken literally flew off her plate. Glancing around, she saw that everyone else in the cafeteria was experiencing the same as burgers, pork-chops, hotdogs, and other pieces of meat were hovering above the air in front of their faces. For some bizarre reason, she noticed that vegetables and fruits were left untouched by this strange occurrence.

"Uh Bonnie, what's going on?" Tara asked nervously. Everyone was murmuring uncomfortably while some were tentatively poking at their mysteriously floating food.

"Like hell if I know!" Bonnie snapped.

She felt someone tap her on the shoulder and the tan girl felt her irritation grow. "What is it now Tara?"

"I didn't say anything."

Bonnie turned in her seat only to come face to face with a strange green skinned….lunch lady?

"Excuse me dear, but do you know what happened to the meatloaf?" The old woman asked in a sweet grandmother like voice. "Today is meatloaf day but I can't find the meatloaf."

"Nobody cares about your stupid meatloaf grandma!" Bonnie said bitingly. "If you hadn't noticed, we have bigger problems at the moment." The girl gestured to the floating food.

As soon as the words left her mouth, she instantly regretted it. The atmosphere around the old woman seemed to grow colder with malevolence. Bonnie unconsciously started to back away from the strange, possibly crazy, woman when a portly hand grabbed her by the hair and painfully pulled her up from her seat.

"Ouch! Let me go you bitch!" Bonnie shrieked in pain and anger. Her loud exclamation managed to draw attention from the rest of the students.

"SILENCE, YOU BRAT!" The Lunch Lady's voice boomed like thunder. There was a crazy glint in her eyes now that sent a shiver of fear down the cheerleader's spine. "How dare you disrespect meatloaf day! Don't you know that Lunch is sacred? Lunch has rules!"

"Get off of her!" Tara came up to her and struggled to get Bonnie free. However, the old woman had a grip like iron. Several other students shouted their support and some even started rising from their seats to help.

"I'll show you what happens to girls who don't respect the MENU!"

Splat!

Everyone was struck silent for a moment as the old hag tentatively reached behind her head to remove a piece of lettuce from the salad that someone threw. She crumpled the leaf as her eyes blazed in fury.

"Who dares?" Her answer was another salad to the face. "YOU!"

Bonnie turned her head as best as she could despite her predicament to catch a glimpse of the offender. To her absolute shock and delight, she saw Danny standing defiantly a few tables away. He scowled at the old woman as he hefted a tomato in his other hand and looked like he was about to hurl it at any second.

"Let her go." Danny demanded. Without even waiting for a response, he chucked the tomato right at the old woman's face. The rest of the student body momentarily forgot his status as the resident pariah and cheered him on while others followed his lead. Fruits, salads, and other condiments started to rain down on the Lunch Lady.

If the situation hadn't been so serious, Bonnie would have complained about the state of her clothes which had not been spared from the onslaught of vegetarian food. However, at this very moment, she couldn't care any less as her gaze was fixed on only one person.

 _Danny…_

Thanks to his intervention, The Lunch Lady's grip had slackened and she was able to break free. Tara quickly pulled her away from the old woman who had begun to shake in anger.

"ENOUGH!" She roared in absolute fury. "YOU BRATS WANT TO PLAY WITH FOOD? THEN PERISH!"

She raised her arms above her head and all of the levitating pieces of meat began to gravitate toward her. Even the frozen meats from storage also started flying through the doors leading to the kitchen. Pretty soon, the old woman had disappeared under a gigantic pile of meats.

The pile shook for a minute before it began to rise up from the ground. Arms and legs sprouted from the large mass, giving it a humanoid appearance. Green eyes opened up and a monstrous mouth grinned down at them. It looked like something out of a vegetarian's worst nightmare.

"Run!" Someone in the crowd shouted and no one needed to be told twice.

* * *

Tara kept her firm grip on Bonnie's hand as they got caught up in the stampede. The two girls were being pushed along by the horde of students trying to make it out of the school. Teens were pushing and shoving just to get moving in the large swarm of bodies. All those emergency school drills didn't really cover meat monster attacks.

In the midst of all the confusion, Tara spotted a mess of raven hair among the crowd. There was only one problem. The owner of said messy raven hair that she would know anywhere was going the wrong way.

"Danny! Over here!" Tara called out. However, her cries were drowned out by the noise of a hundred panicking students. She grew slightly desperate as he drifted farther and farther away.

"Tara, come on!" Bonnie shouted and tugged on her arm.

The blonde cheerleader fought her friend's pull. "Bonnie we have to go back!"

"Are you crazy?" Her friend gave her an incredulous look.

"We have to! I saw Danny heading back there!"

Bonnie faltered at that. "You're sure?"

Tara nodded in determination. She didn't know why on earth he thought he needed to go back but she did know one crucial fact.

Danny still cares!

That thought was enough to have her beaming like an idiot. She just knew that deep down behind all of his loner façade and his attempts to push them away that he was still their best friend. Bonnie must have been thinking along the same lines as she bit her lip.

Bonnie sighed. "Come on. Let's make sure that moron doesn't hurt himself."

* * *

"I told you so!"

"Not the time Ron!" Kim said in irritation as she dodged another gigantic meat fist. She back flipped over another table to gain some distance from the meat monster. She quickly took out her communicator and turned it on. "Wade, please tell me you know how to beat that thing."

"What thing?" The ten year old boy asked before Kim pointed the camera. "Holy smokes! What the heck is that?"

"That's why I called you." Kim said, jumping away to avoid being crushed by a large foot made of hams.

"Right, I'll get on it." Wade started typing furiously.

Kim put away her communicator for the time being to deal with the problem at hand. Choosing to switch to the offensive, the young crime-fighter ran forward to get close. She avoided another swipe by somersaulting over the large meat fist. Instead of simply landing, Kim extended her right leg to bring it down in an axe kick that struck the monster's shoulder.

Unfortunately for her, the Lunch Lady barely reacted to her kick and to make things worse, her foot got stuck in the body of meat. A huge hand immediately wrapped around her body and Kim struggled to free herself from the vice grip that was slowly squeezing her.

"Kim!" Ron hurled a nearby tray like a Frisbee that nailed the meat monster right in the eyes. Sadly, this only served to irritate the monster further, prompting it to throw Kim across the cafeteria. The cheerleader was able to tuck into a roll instead of falling flat on her back. Ron quickly rushed to her side.

"What's the plan KP?"

The red-head took out her communicator once more. "Wade, please tell me you have something."

"Sorry Kim but I can't seem to get a clear answer." Wade didn't looking at her, still typing away in his computer. "My scans indicate some kind of weird energy signature that I've never seen before. The closest thing I could find to a match for it was on a paper published by Jack and Maddie Fenton. I know that this might be hard to believe but I think that what you're dealing with is some kind of…"

"No, please don't say it." Kim pleaded. It was absurd! There was no way that the thing in front of them could possibly be a real…

"…ghost."

"I knew it!" Ron pumped his fists.

Kim's disbelief and Ron's elation quickly vanished as soon as they saw the giant ball of meat flying toward them. Kim mentally berated herself for taking her eyes off of the fight. In their moment of distraction, they had failed to notice the Lunch Lady attacking. A hundred pounds of meat could probably break a few bones if it were traveling at high speeds. The two friends merely raised their arms, hoping to take the brunt of hit and hopefully avoid breaking something.

 _This is going to hurt._

The two teens flinched at the sound of impact but were surprised by the fact that they didn't feel it. Kim lowered her arms from her face only to find herself and Ron covered in a glowing green dome of energy.

"What in the world?" Kim muttered to herself

"Excuse me, I ordered my steaks medium rare." A new voice quipped. "These look a little raw. Here let me help cook them up for you."

A green blast of energy hit the meat monster right where the left arm connected to its shoulder, cutting the limb off. Three more blasts followed after that, severing the remaining limbs causing the meat giant to topple to the ground. The strange energy dome surrounding them vanished not long after.

"Are you two okay?" Someone asked and Team Possible quickly swiveled around to face the new arrival.

For some strange reason, Kim was hit with a certain sense of familiarity. The person standing behind them was a teenager around the same age as them with snowy white hair and a haunting pair of green eyes. He wore a tight hazmat suit that was clad in black with some white highlights thrown in but it left little to the imagination as it showcased his lean athletic body. This had been the first time she had seen him but at the same time, Kim felt like she should know this person.

Kim decided to ponder on it later. They had a bigger problem to deal with.

"Yeah, thanks for the save uh..." Kim trailed off.

"Phantom, my name's Phantom." The strange teen introduced.

"Right, I'm Kim, and this is—"

A rumble interrupted her as the huge pile of meat started to reform. Phantom's eyes hardened as he positioned himself in front of them. "You guys should go. Leave big ugly to me."

"But we can help!" Ron said.

Phantom shook his head and replied without taking his eyes off of the newly regenerated meat monster. "No you can't. Humans can't fight ghosts without any of the right equipment. You won't even be able to slow her down. It'd be better if you just left and get yourselves somewhere safe."

"We can handle ourselves just fine." Kim refused to back down. The manner in which he said that last statement rubbed her the wrong way. It seemed like he was implying that they were amateurs or something.

"Whatever, just don't get in the way." Phantom said, before phasing through the ground. Kim just gawked at the spot where he fell through the floor. Oh hell no, he did not just tell her off like that before disappearing.

That guy had some nerve.

* * *

Okay, maybe he had been a little harsh but it was the truth! They would have just been in more danger without ectoplasmic weapons to help them fight. He would have had to divide his attention between fighting and making sure that they didn't get hurt. No, it was better if they sat this one out. Granted, he could have phrased that a little better but he didn't have time for niceties.

He had a ghost to catch.

Danny flew up from the ground and sent a powerful energy coated uppercut under the Lunch Lady's jaw that made her stumble. He quickly followed with a rapid series of ectoblasts that distracted her enough to be able to duplicate himself. The carbon copy of himself flew forward like a bullet and used his intangibility to fly through the monster and tackle the Lunch Lady out of the mass of meat.

The copy continued flying and the two of them phased through the wall into the next room with the original right on their tail. The Lunch Lady growled and elbowed his copy at the back of his neck, making him vanish.

"So, you're the reason why that insufferable hunter wouldn't let us pass into the human world." The Lunch Lady said. "I'll make you pay for delaying my lunch brand of justice!"

"Blah, blah, blah, just get in the stupid thermos!" Danny's hand flew to his belt where he normally clipped the device only to find it missing. A stray memory of hiding it in his locker before class flashed through his mind. "Well that's just great."

The Lunch Lady capitalized on his momentary distraction to phase through another wall in order to escape. Danny instantly flew after her, using his ghost sense to keep track of where she was heading. Luckily for him, she was flying toward the hallway where his locker was. He decided put on a little bit more speed and created a duplicate to fetch the thermos while he cut her off.

He was really glad that he was able to get the hang of duplicating himself. It took a hell of a lot of practice and quite a few deformities to get it just right. Currently, he could only produce two copies without significantly draining himself and while they did take a lot out of him, they were undeniably useful.

Before he knew it, he had already managed to catch up to the old woman in one of the hallways. He grabbed her by the ankle and spun her around to slam into the nearby drinking fountain.

"You call that a throw?" The Lunch Lady stood and cracked her neck. "Ha! This is why children should eat more meat! You lack strength ghost child!"

"Yeah, well I think a balanced diet is more important." Danny said. "And besides, I'm just distracting you anyway."

His duplicate phased through the ground and activated the Fenton Thermos before the ghost could even retort. The Lunch Lady wailed in anger as she got sucked into the device. Danny capped the lid and the duplicate promptly disappeared.

Since there was no one around, Danny decided it was safe to change back into his human half. He could hear sirens coming from outside the school and the teen thought that it'd probably be best to slip out unnoticed and join the rest of the students before someone realized he was missing. He jogged to the nearest exit while using his invisibility to remain unseen.

Once he was outside, he was greeted with the sight of several police cruisers, ambulances, and fire trucks all parked in front of the school. The police had already set up a perimeter while the students were all huddled together. Mr. Barkin was trying to maintain order in his usual strict and no nonsense tone.

Danny positioned himself at the back of the group and dropped his invisibility because he could see the teachers doing a headcount. He let out small breathe of relief as he saw one of the teacher's eyes glance at him for a second before moving on. Good, he was in the clear.

"Alright people listen up!" Mr. Barkin's megaphone enhanced voice blared out to the horde of students. "Has anyone seen Possible and Stoppable?"

"We're here!" They all turned to see the two running out of the front entrance.

He was glad that the two actually followed his advice. Kim looked pretty irritated for some reason but he decided to file that away for later. Now if he could just spot Tara and Bonnie, then Danny would be completely able to relax. They must be around here somewhere.

His search for the two girls was interrupted by a huge RV screeching to a halt right next to the group. A blazing green design with a giant letter F was painted onto the sides and Danny seriously started to reconsider going invisible once again.

 _Oh God._

The driver side door burst open and his father jumped out of the vehicle with his usual battle cry.

"Eat this ghost scum!" His trigger-happy dad blasted the crowd with his bazooka and a couple of unlucky students within range got covered in green ectoplasmic foam.

His mom promptly climbed on top of the RV with a megaphone of her own and addressed the students. "Students of Middleton High, there is no need to be alarmed. As you are all aware, my husband, Jack, and I are professional Ghost Hunters and we assure you that no further harm will come to you as long as we are here. But first, I have a very important question: Where is my sweet and adorable little boy? Oh never mind, I just saw him. Hi, sweetie!"

His mother waved at him and everyone else turned to stare at him. Some students snickered while the ones who had been drenched in ectoplasmic foam did not look too happy with him at the moment.

Danny could do nothing but smile sheepishly and prayed to whatever deity was listening to just kill him now.

* * *

Tara and Bonnie sat together in the janitor's closet in stunned silence. The day had already been strange to say the least but what they saw just minutes earlier left them speechless. It was just too much to process all at once and yet when they really thought about it, everything started to make sense.

The two of them barely managed to stifle their gasps of surprise when the two white rings of light disappeared and standing there was Danny Fenton, who was still holding the thermos he used to trap the Lunch Lady. He stared at it for a moment before taking off, leaving the two girls in a state of disbelief.

The two sat there contemplating what they had just seen when Tara giggled quietly to herself. "I knew it."

Bonnie could only stare at her friend in bewilderment. "What?"

Tara turned to face her with the biggest grin she had ever worn in a while. "I just knew that he had to have a reason for saying all those hurtful things last year. It explains so much!"

"Yeah, you're right." Bonnie conceded, letting out a small smile of her own. It felt like a huge weight had been lifted from her chest. All the anger and resentment she had harbored over their massive fight for the past year slowly melted away. Well, maybe not completely. She was still a little pissed that Danny would keep something like this from them.

"He is in so much trouble." Bonnie smirked.

Tara nodded in agreement. "Let's give him a piece of our minds."

* * *

 **And done! Now let me just make a few things clear. In this story, Danny has had his powers for over a year so of course he would have already mastered most of his abilities( as well as some new ones I will be fitting in later). However, he hasn't met any of his ghostly foes aside from Skulker, Plasmius, and now the Lunch Lady. Not much of a battle in this chapter but expect better ones soon enough. Anyways, tell me what you think and as always leave a review!**


	4. Bygones Be Bygones

**Without further ado, I present the next chapter. Enjoy.**

* * *

"Did you find anything?"

"Sorry Kim, but it's kind of hard to investigate someone who's… a ghost, literally and figuratively." Wade said, taking a sip from his soda while his other hand continued typing. "The earliest known footage of Phantom was caught by a couple of kids who were hanging out at the skate-park five months ago. They posted it online and got a lot of views but everyone just assumed it was faked. Other than that, I got nothing."

"So basically, we're in the dark." Kim frowned.

"Not necessarily." Wade assured her. "Based on the Ghost Reports as well as some alleged sightings, I can deduce that he's somewhat of a local. He only appears around Middleton, Upperton, and Lowerton for some reason. Who knows? Maybe there's a chance you'll run into him again."

"I hope not." Kim grumbled, remembering their first recent encounter.

"What's got you ticked off?" Wade raised an amused eyebrow.

"Oh, Kim's just experiencing the so called "In your face!" syndrome." Ron replied, with a smug look on his face.

Kim growled. "Oh for the love of, okay Ron you win! Ghosts are real. I'm sorry I didn't believe you! Can we please just focus on finding this guy?"

"Treat me to some Bueno Nacho and you got a deal."

"Done, I'll even Grande size it." Kim readily agreed. At this point, she was ready to do almost anything so that Ron would finally stop rubbing it in her face.

Yesterday had been stressful to say the least. After Phantom and the Lunch Lady disappeared, the entire student body had been interviewed and questioned by the authorities as well as the media about the details of the attack. The police had been pretty skeptical at first and Kim couldn't blame them. Ghosts and flying meat monsters sounded pretty ridiculous but the amount of witnesses and the arrival of the Fentons helped solidify their case.

The town's resident ghost hunters were… an interesting couple. Jack Fenton had been disappointed when they were told that the ghost had already disappeared as he followed his wife, Maddie Fenton, into the school to search for some samples the ghosts might have left behind.

"I'll try to dig up anything else I can find and call you when I get a hit." Wade said.

"Please and thank you." Kim disconnected the video call and tucked away the communicator.

Ron suddenly nudged her and pointed out Josh who was on a ladder hanging up banners for the dance tomorrow.

"You haven't asked him yet, have you?" The blond guessed.

"No!" Kim wailed in mock despair. "It seems like every time I try, something gets in the way."

It was like the universe was against her or something. How on earth was she able to defeat Drakken and Shego on a weekly basis but have trouble asking one cute guy to the dance? It was criminal!

"You're just not trying hard enough. Here, watch and learn." Ron picked up his megaphone and addressed the gym full of cheerleaders. "What up ladies? The name's Ron Stoppable in case you were wondering. So there's this dance coming up tomorrow and I'll just have you know that I'm a bon diggity dancer! Any takers?"

The rest of the cheer squad rolled their eyes at his attempts to score a date and while Kim admired his confidence, she did smack herself on the forehead for his lack of finesse.

"Come on, don't be shy." Ron kept going and Kim had to grab the megaphone away from him.

"I'll see you after practice, Ron." The redhead told him.

The blond shrugged and was making his way to the exit when he bumped into Bonnie and Tara who had just arrived.

"Move it, loser!" Bonnie snapped at him before shoving Ron aside. Tara, whose eyes were downcast, meekly followed the girl as she stomped into the gym. The two girls looked distracted as they joined the rest of the squad.

"Are you two okay?" Kim decided to ask as she approached them.

"Just peachy, thanks for asking." Bonnie said in a snarky tone. "Can we just get this over with?"

Kim turned to Tara but the girl merely gave her a forced smile. The redhead thought about letting them sit this one out because they were clearly not feeling up to it but on the other hand, she could tell that Bonnie would stubbornly refuse and continue to practice anyway. Letting the matter drop for now, she turned to address the squad as a whole.

"Alright girls, let's do this!"

* * *

 _School was hell. Sure, kids always complained about it but in the end, they weren't Danny Fenton. He often wondered when the hell his life got so difficult to the point where he was legitimately afraid to show his face in school. One's pants could only fall so many times._

 _It wasn't always like this. In fact, he had been enjoying his time at high school. There were always people to meet, friends to hang out with, and stuff to do. Freshman year had been great. Bonnie and Tara had gotten accepted into the cheer squad like they always wanted while he was able to snag a spot on the soccer team, quickly rising through the ranks, bringing home the trophy and was awarded the captaincy at the end of the year._

 _During summer break, Tara had been able to convince his and Bonnie's parents to allow the three of them to take a trip with her family to a resort in Tahiti. Not many people know this but Tara's parents were pretty wealthy because her dad owns two five star hotels while her mom was a Michelin star winning chef. You would think that with all that money, his friend would grow up to be some snobbish princess but thankfully she wasn't. In fact, her parents were pretty nice and always welcomed him and Bonnie whenever they came over._

 _That week of summer on the beach was one of the best he ever had and almost felt like a dream._

 _Except now, he lived in a nightmare. A month and a half long nightmare he really wished to wake up from._

" _Hey Danny," Tara greeted him as he opened his locker. Her brows creased in concern as she saw him. "Did you get any sleep at all last night?"_

" _I had enough to get through today at least."_

" _Are you sure? I mean if you're not feeling up to it maybe you should—"_

" _I'll be fine Tara! Just stop fussing!" Danny snapped irritably. He couldn't help it. He only got a total of two hours worth of sleep last night and he didn't need her constantly checking over him._

" _What's up your ass this time?" Bonnie came up to the two and looked pointedly at Danny with her arms crossed. "I swear it's like you lash out at anyone who just talks to you these days."_

" _Sorry," Danny let out a tired sigh. "Can we go now? Mr. Barkin will have me in detention again if I'm late."_

" _No."_

" _What do you mean no?"_

 _Bonnie walked right up to him and got up in his face. "No! You can't keep blowing us off like this! We need a serious talk right here and right now. Don't even think about an excuse right now Fenton because I'm not having it!"_

" _Look, whatever we need to talk about, we can do it later." Danny growled._

" _That right there is the problem!" Bonnie gripped her hair in frustration. "It's always later with you!"_

" _What do you want me to say?" Danny felt his own temper caused by his lack of sleep starting to rise. "I don't know if you've noticed but you're not exactly the easiest person to talk to and your attitude is not helping."_

" _Well I'd be in a much better mood if a certain someone hasn't been avoiding us this past week." Bonnie shot back._

" _Guys…" Tara tried getting in between them but her efforts were in vain._

" _Did you ever think that maybe I needed some time to myself for a change?" Danny demanded. "But no, as always, we have to do it Bonnie's way or else she'll throw a tantrum."_

" _Sorry if I've just been concerned for my best friend." Bonnie's fists were shaking now. "I'm sorry that we care about what you're doing to yourself! I'm sorry that you're so burdened by our worry! I'm sorry that we're just trying to be good friends!"_

" _Stop, please!" Tara begged as she was finally able to separate the two of them. She knew she had to put a stop to this before one of them said something they would regret…but it was too late._

" _Just why do you constantly have to push?!" Danny nearly shouted. "You and Tara always think you know what's best for me, but you don't! So you can drop the concern because I don't need it! I can take care of myself! I know what this is all about! You're just mad because you girls thought you could just bat your eyelashes at me like every other boy and I'll roll over like a good dog."_

" _Danny that's not true." Tara spoke up but then Danny rounded on her._

" _Oh would you spare me the sweet and innocent act Tara." Danny said. "It might work on daddy if you wanted him to buy you a new pony or whatever but don't think it'll work on me because—"_

 _Slap!_

 _His cheek stung from the sudden impact and it was at that moment when Danny had realized the weight of everything he had just said. He slowly turned his head to see Bonnie with her hand still in the air and tears leaking down her face. Tara was choking back a sob while she covered her mouth._

 _What has he done?_

" _Fuck you." Bonnie said, before storming off. She pushed through the crowd of people that had apparently managed to gather around the trio._

 _Danny could only watch her go as he stood rooted to the spot. He slowly turned to his other friend whose shoulders were racked with silent sobs._

" _Tara, I…" Danny tried reaching for her but she took a step away from him and shook her head. She gave him one last look before rushing off after Bonnie, leaving him in the loose circle of students that had gathered to watch the events unfold._

 _It was too much. Everyone was murmuring to themselves but Danny could only hear ringing in his ears. His breathing started coming out in short uneven pants and he felt like his chest was being squeezed by a vice. Before he knew it, he had pushed his way through the crowd and quickly stumbled into a bathroom. He was able to lock the door to an unoccupied stall before he emptied the content of his stomach into the toilet._

 _God, the pain was unbearable. At this point, he wished Bonnie had slapped him harder because the shame and guilt he felt was slowly crushing him under its weight._

 _And so there he sat for the rest of the day, not even bothering to come to class anymore as he felt like the lowest form of scum._

* * *

The final bell had rung an hour ago which meant that most of the students have already gone home. He knew because he watched everyone leave from where he was perched on the school roof. He flew up here from time to time whenever he just wanted to think. It offered a great view of the town since Middleton didn't really have many tall buildings around this area. He could mostly see houses for a couple of miles and the city in the distance.

Danny wished he could say that he was up there to enjoy the fresh air and take in the sights but sadly that was far from the truth. In fact, as much as he was ashamed to admit, he was hiding.

 _We know everything, Danny…_

It was strange how a simple sentence like that had sent him running with his tail between his legs. He felt like such a coward. He didn't even listen to what they had to say. Nope, he just turned and ran. Oh yeah, Brave heart's got nothing on him.

How they found out about his secret didn't even matter anymore. The question was what he was going to do about it now that they did know. They had him boxed in and he knew they would never buy any half-ass excuse now that the cat was out of the bag.

Danny let out a defeated sigh and decided to lie on his back so that he was facing the cloudy afternoon sky.

There had been another reason why he was avoiding everyone today, especially Bonnie and Tara. It was because it was on this exact day last year that he stupidly lashed out and destroyed several years' worth of friendship. It was a day that would always haunt him for the rest of his life. He remembered every single word and the heartbroken looks on their faces. It was like a stab in the gut whenever he thought about it, which was more often than you'd imagine.

Was it even possible to recover from that? Was there any form of retribution or forgiveness he could earn? Did he even deserve any?

He had to constantly convince himself that perhaps it was better that they had that argument because at least he knew they were safe by keeping their distance but deep down he knew that was just a way to ease the pain. No, what he really wanted to do since the beginning was to tell them and maybe work it out like they always did, regardless of the consequences. Instead he had surrendered to his stress and did the opposite by pushing them away.

He pushed himself into a crossed legged sitting position and stared at his hand. With a simple thought, his hand was engulfed by a glowing green energy before turning invisible. He had no doubt in his mind that many teens his age would say that having powers would be awesome but he disagreed. These powers were a curse. It had cost him a year of his life that he could have spent being a carefree student without having the responsibility of making sure rogue spirits didn't harm anybody.

He had thought about ignoring it at first after the argument and to hell with it, let the ghosts rampage for all he cared. It wasn't his duty to make sure everyone was safe. People die and get hurt all the time, it was only natural. But then one night, one of the ghosts had gotten really close to Bonnie's house and would have gotten in if he hadn't launched himself at it. They had battled briefly right in front of the house and Danny was able to defeat it.

Once he had captured it, Danny stopped to stare at the house where he knew his best friend and her family was sleeping, blissfully unaware of the danger they were in only moments before. It was then that he came to a realization: If he hadn't been there, what would have happened? If he had ignored the ghost, would he have ever seen Bonnie again? What if it had been Tara?

Danny surveyed the rest of the street. He knew a couple of the people who lived in these houses. He practically grew up in this neighborhood. They didn't deserve to have some wandering ghost breaking into their houses and doing God knows what. Would he have been able to stand by and just left them in harm's way too?

 _Screw that._

That night, he had come to accept his powers. He might not have wanted them but there was no use trying to change what was done to him. It was a heavy burden for sure but at least he could feel at ease knowing that he was able to keep people safe, especially the people he cared about.

But it still didn't solve his current predicament. Now that Bonnie and Tara had stumbled upon his little secret, he knew for a fact that they would never stop hounding him until he caved in. He had to face them sooner or later but what could he even say? A simple apology felt severely lacking in his opinion and even on the small chance that they decide to forgive him, there was still one person who couldn't: Himself.

No matter what anyone said, he would forever hold himself responsible because he had hurt them.

Danny let out another frustrated sigh and thought that he might as well start heading home. All of that homework wasn't going to do itself and maybe he could even take a quick nap before he went on patrol later tonight. Standing up, he savored the feeling of a particularly strong breeze before phasing through the floor back into the school.

He landed inside the hallway close to the exit and was about to head out when he heard footsteps approaching.

Danny turned toward the source, which turned out to be none other than Josh Mankey, who looked just as surprised that someone else was still at school at this time.

"What are you still doing here?" The blond teen asked.

"I…forgot my books." Danny replied.

"Ah, I see."

Neither of them spoke for a moment. To be quite frank, Danny didn't really know Josh that well despite the fact that they've shared several classes since freshman year. He was always just one of those faces that you see but never really interacted with.

Danny racked his brain until he remembered he was part of the committee who was in charge of the dance. "Nice job on the posters by the way."

"Oh, yeah, thanks." Josh said.

More silence.

The blond artist cleared his throat. "I saw Tara and Bonnie earlier in the gym and they looked kind of upset. Is everything alright with you three?"

Danny winced at mention of the girls.

"Sorry, I know it's none of my business." Josh hastily apologized. "It's just that they only seem to get depressed whenever it has something to do with you."

"You're not wrong." Danny sighed dejectedly. "I just keep messing things up even when I don't mean to."

"Well, who hasn't right?" Josh said. "Everybody screws up once in a while."

"Yeah, but…" Danny hesitated for a second. "Have you ever done something you felt like you could never forgive yourself for?"

A shadow passed over Josh's eyes. "You'd be surprised."

However, the darkness in his eyes quickly faded as soon as it came. Had Danny imagined it?

"How do you cope with it?" Danny couldn't help but ask. He wasn't sure if the blond teen he barely knew was the right person to talk to about his problems but he figured that listening to someone with an objective view of the situation couldn't hurt.

Josh scratched the back of his head. "I'm not sure if I'm the one you should be asking. Our circumstances are different but if I were you, I'd grab the opportunity to fix things while I still can."

The teen had a faraway look in his eyes as he said that and Danny could detect an undertone of remorse. It made him wonder what exactly had Josh experienced to make him say that. After all, he'd seen that look many times before.

Danny saw it every time he looked in the mirror.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when the blond artist handed him a flyer. "What's this for?"

"A chance," Josh answered simply, before walking off and leaving Danny standing in the hallway deep in thought.

* * *

The Friday night dance was in full swing that evening as teenagers busted out moves on the dance floor. The committee had done a spanking job in organizing the event. The music was upbeat, there was plenty of food and snacks, the decorations were well done, and everyone was having a good time.

Kim in particular was having a blast. Why wouldn't she be? She had just foiled Drakken's latest scheme, finished rehearsing the new choreography for the squad, and best of all, she was dancing with Josh.

Oh yeah, life was good.

A bit further away, she noticed Ron showing off his dancing skills in a wild manner. The other teens gave the blond a wide berth so as not to be hit by his flailing arms and legs. She rolled her eyes at her friend's antics and turned her attention back to her own dance partner.

"Is he having a seizure?" Josh jokingly asked as he chuckled at the sight of her best friend busting out moves on the dance floor.

Kim giggled. "Oh he's fine."

Her date then spun her a few times and pulled her close as the song came to an end, leaving her flushed.

"I'll go get us some drinks." Josh offered before making his way to the punch bowl. "Save me a seat okay?"

"Sure." Kim smiled and took a seat at one of the tables. She leaned back into the chair and gave off a content sigh.

"Nice moves." Someone complimented.

She turned to the source and found Danny standing behind her with his hand in his pockets. He had apparently decided to dress up for tonight. He wore a black dress shirt that was tucked into his jeans and some brown loafers. He had even combed his hair a bit. All in all, Kim thought he looked good.

 _Really good_

"Uh, thanks." It took a moment for her to reply.

"So, where's the bon diggity dancer?" Danny asked with a hint of amusement.

Kim pointed to the dance floor. "He's over there doing the worm."

Danny whistled. "I have to give him props for that one."

Just then, without warning, someone had grabbed Danny by the back of his collar and started dragging him off. Kim only heard his startled gasp before she saw him get pulled out the exit. She was about to follow him to make sure he was alright but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder.

"I think he can handle that on his own." Josh said in a cryptic manner.

Kim could only stare at him in confusion as she received her drink from him. What was he talking about?

* * *

Danny was pushed against the nearby wall as soon as the door to the gym closed.

"You've got some nerve Fenton!" Bonnie scowled at him. Beside her was an equally unhappy looking Tara who had her arms crossed. "Who do you think you are, huh?"

"Bonnie, I—"

The girl raised up a hand to silence him. "Oh no, don't even think about interrupting me right now because I'm seriously fed up with your bullshit. No, you're going to shut up and listen!"

Danny wisely chose to clamp his mouth shut.

"One year." Bonnie began. "It's been one year since we've had an honest to God talk about our screwed up friendship and you know what? This stops now! I don't even know where to start with you! Do you have any idea how painful it was for us? Our friend has an accident and then a few weeks later he tells us to screw off? Why? Is it because you have weird ghost powers now? That's a weak excuse! After everything we've been through together, did you honestly think we would have let you deal with this alone? No! Tara and I would be there for you every step of the way. We WILL be there for you! Freaky ghost powers be damned and I swear if you say something silly like it's too dangerous, I will smack the crap out of you."

The girl panted from her long rant and the trio stood there in silence for a while letting her words sink in.

"You're right." Danny said in a soft tone.

The teen hung his head in shame as everything she said slammed into him like a freight train. "I should have trusted you two from the beginning. But I was afraid. I was afraid that I might scare you away with my powers. I was a coward and an idiot for not having faith in the two of you. I know that I could never forgive myself for what I did but I want you two to know that I'm truly sorry for everything. Even of you choose not to forgive me, I'd understand."

A pair of gentle hands placed themselves under his chin to raise his face. He was met with a sniffling and teary eyed blonde who was smiling at him. "Apology accepted."

She then pulled him into a fierce hug and Danny could only stare at her in stunned awe. "After everything I did…just like that?"

"Of course you idiot." Another pair of arms had wrapped around him as Bonnie buried her face into his shirt..

"We missed you." Tara mumbled.

Danny was had never felt overwhelmed with emotion before. He couldn't believe it. His mind just couldn't properly process it. However, before long, it felt like a dam had broken and a year's worth of loneliness and despair was washed away as he did something he hadn't done in a while: laugh.

He laughed and continued to do so despite the tears running down his face. It was a sound filled with pure joy as he felt a heavy burden being lifted from his shoulders. He returned the hug in full force and spun the girls once in the air, eliciting surprised squeals from them.

"Thank you." Danny whispered.

The three of them separated and just like that, the tense atmosphere that had hung over them for the whole year had evaporated.

"Don't think we'll let you off easy though." Bonnie said, wiping the tears from her face.

Danny chuckled. "I promise that I'll make up for everything as best as I can."

"Yeah, you better." Bonnie said in a huff, reverting back to her usual self while Tara just nodded in agreement.

"Well, now that you mention it, Jazz did send something in the mail the other day." Danny dug through his pocket and took out a green plastic card. "She said it was from a friend who's really into the latest fashion or something. It's a two hundred dollar gift card for that new store that's opening tomorrow."

The card was snatched out of his hand faster than he could blink. Danny would have to thank his sister later for sending it on short notice.

"It's a good start Fenton." Bonnie admitted as she admired the gift. "But you're not off the hook yet."

"You know, we could buy a lot of stuff with this." Tara said as her face formed into a smirk. "We'll probably have to carry a lot of bags. I'm not sure if the two of us will be able to handle it all."

The two of them smiled at him a little too sweetly and Danny gulped. He could already feel the weight of all those purchases on his arms. He let out an involuntary whimper.

Tara then grabbed his hand while Bonnie grabbed the other as they began to lead him back to the gym where the dance was. While he may not be the best dancer in the world, he didn't let that stop him from trying and for the first time in a long time, he felt completely at ease.

* * *

 **Okay, and done. Whew, that was quite an experience. I've never actually written a heavily dramatic scene before and I hope I captured the feelings and emotions just right but if not well I tried my best. So as always tell me what you think and leave reviews.**


	5. Breaking The Ice

**First of all, I just want to say thanks to all you guys who've liked the story so far. It's a great feeling to know that people read and enjoy something you create, you know? But enough of that, let's get on with the story! I would just like to point out that I do not own KP and DP. I write purely for fun.**

* * *

"Jack, can we talk for a moment?" Maddie Fenton asked her husband who was in the midst of tinkering with their latest invention.

The hulking figure stiffened. "I didn't forget to take out the garbage again, did I? Or is it your birthday?"

"Relax dear, it's not about that." The woman couldn't resist a smile. Honestly, her husband could be so simpleminded sometimes. He'd get tunnel vision as soon as someone mentions ghosts and fudge and completely forget about everything else. Sure it could get annoying at times and she had to berate him often but she knew deep down that he was a good and honest man.

"Oh, okay." Jack sighed in relief. "Then what do you want to talk about?"

Maddie bit her lip in worry before replying. "It's about Danny."

He must have sensed the amount of concern emanating from her voice because he immediately dropped what he was doing and gave her his full attention.

"For the life of me, I can't figure out what's wrong." Maddie admitted in defeat as she plopped down on one of the lab chairs. "I caught him sneaking out again last night. God knows where he goes and I just feel so helpless because I know he won't tell us no matter how hard we try."

She felt as though she had failed as a mother. When did it all go so wrong? As far as she could remember, Danny had always been a happy child. The two of them did everything together back then: play games, have picnics, eat ice cream, watch movies. Even when she was working on their ghost projects, she would always make time for her kids, especially Danny.

At the time, Jazz had already started acting more mature for her age and insisted on being treated as an adult even though she was only nine years old. It made her wish that her daughter could have at least waited for a few more years to start acting like a grown up. Alas, the girl had always been too smart for her own good. Nevertheless, Maddie was proud of the woman her daughter had become and before she knew it, Jazz was already in college earning her degree in Psychology.

While Danny wasn't as brainy as his sister, he was far from stupid. Maddie never had to worry about receiving his report cards because he was always among the top of his class. Of course, she never had to worry about anything Danny did in the past because his two friends were always there to keep him in check. She was grateful for the presence of the two girls, who at this point she began to see as daughters of her own. Bonnie and Tara grounded her son to reality and gave him a reason to be a better person in general.

However, she noticed that the three of them seemed a little distant as of late. In the past, the two girls were regular guests at the Fenton household and visited at least once every week. Nowadays, they would only receive rare phone calls checking up on her son.

Thus, it brought her back to her current predicament. How on earth could she get her son to open up to her and Jack?

The scientist was snapped out of her musings when a large arm draped over her shoulder in comfort. She leaned into her husband's touch and she could tell that the whole situation bothered him too.

"I don't know what to tell you Mads." Jack said. "Danny's a good kid. He must be going through some sort of…phase."

Maddie couldn't help but snort at that. "There's a phase where a teenager sneaks out at one in the morning?"

Jack chuckled at her dry humor. "Maybe there is. You know how crazy kids are today. He could probably be at the disco for all we know and getting his groove on."

"Jack, discos went out of style along with afros and bell-bottom jeans." Maddie laughed. That was another thing she loved about her husband. He never failed to make her laugh or cheer her up.

"Well, whatever the case, I'm sure he knows that he can always come to us." Jack said confidently. "After all, he's a Fenton! And we Fentons stick together no matter what!"

"You're right honey." Maddie kissed him on the cheek affectionately. "Until then, we just have to be patient. But maybe we should consider speeding up the process a little. The three of us haven't been spending enough time as a family lately ever since Jazz left."

Jack suddenly brightened up as he remembered something. "And I know just how to do it!"

He stood up, swiped a piece of paper off the table and showed it to her. It was a permission slip Danny had given them to sign for a school trip.

"That's perfect!" Maddie said excitedly. "I'll go put our skis in the RV!"

* * *

"Please….have mercy…." Danny groaned as he struggled to keep pace with his two friends. His arms were loaded with shopping bags filled with an array of clothes, shoes, hats, and other items that the girls fancied. As usual, his pleas fell on deaf ears.

"Oh don't be such a baby." Bonnie rolled her eyes at him while Tara just giggled at the sight of him.

Truth be told, Danny didn't really mind being their pack mule all that much. Admittedly, he would have preferred watching a movie instead of browsing through multiple boutiques for clothes. Whoever invented the phrase "Shop till you drop" had obviously never met Bonnie and Tara. In less than an hour, the girls had already maxed out Jazz's two hundred dollar gift certificate. However, that didn't stop them from trying on at least two dozen outfits from each store that they visited before dragging him off to the next one.

Danny received many sympathetic looks from the male population who were in a similar state next to their respective girlfriends and wives.

Still, it was nice to be able to spend some time with the two outside of school. They were slowly but surely rebuilding their friendship over the past week since the dance. Danny had told them everything since he didn't want to keep any more secrets. He wasn't going to make the same mistake twice.

"Don't worry Danny, we're almost there." Tara patted him on the shoulder.

"That doesn't actually make me feel any better." Danny nervously replied.

"Oh I wasn't trying to comfort you." Tara smirked. "I was just reminding you of what you're in for when we arrive."

"Gee, thanks."

The reason for Danny's frayed nerves was due to the fact that they were headed towards Tara's house where her parents were waiting. He had already gotten an earful from Mrs. Rockwaller about what happened over the past year and why he wasn't able to visit as much as before. She eventually forgave him after explaining a few things, leaving out the part about him having ghost powers of course, and promising to visit more often.

The trio stopped in front of a huge ornate metal gate while Tara pressed an intercom button.

"How may I help you?" A man's voice was heard from the speaker.

"It's me Clyde, we're coming in." Tara said.

The large gate opened a moment later and the three strolled inside.

Danny had almost forgotten how large Tara's house was, if you could even call it that. The large driveway led to a huge two story mansion that looked straight out of a Forbes magazine. A large stone fountain was set in front of the house on a circular island of grass and decorative plants. A few luxury cars were parked off to the side and the teen even spotted an old Cadillac that was in pristine condition.

Tara's butler, Clyde, was waiting for them at the front door.

"Welcome home, Ms. Tara." Clyde greeted formally. "It is also good to see you again Mr. Fenton."

"Just Danny is fine." The teen said. "Mr. Fenton makes me sound old."

Bonnie then cleared her throat. "What about my greeting Clyde?"

The middle-aged butler sighed and turned to Tara.

"Humor her." The blonde smiled in amusement.

"Very well," Clyde said, before facing Bonnie. "How are you this afternoon Lady Mary Crawley?"

"I'm fine, thanks for asking." Bonnie replied with a rather satisfied look on her face.

Tara shook her head and decided to interrupt. "Are my parents here?"

"Mr. and Mrs. Strong are waiting for you in the living room." Clyde relieved a grateful Danny of his heavy baggage. "I shall be taking these to your room."

"Thanks Clyde!" Tara said, before leading them inside. "Why do you always have to make him call you that?"

Bonnie shrugged innocently. "What? Downton Abbey was a good show. Plus, it's fun."

The three friends found Tara's parents relaxing on one of the plush couches in the living room.

Jonathan Strong looked like he just got home from work. He was still dressed in his dark blue suit with the tie loosened around his neck while his coat was draped over one of the armrests. The man's feet were propped up on the coffee table much to the ire of his wife sitting next to him.

Tara's mother, Alison Strong, was flipping through a magazine when she heard them enter. "Oh, Tara, you're back. How was the shopping trip?"

The blonde greeted her mother with a hug and her dad with a peck on the cheek as she joined her parents on the couch.

"Oh it was great! I bought a really cute blouse and some gorgeous earrings to match!" Tara gushed. "We even got a pair of Stiletto's for the both of us."

"Yes we did." Bonnie said before crashing unceremoniously onto another couch and helping herself to some biscuits on the table. "It took hours to find the right dress to go with it too. Isn't that right, Danny?"

The teen stiffened as the gaze of the two adults shifted towards him.

"I didn't know we had a visitor." Mr. Strong spoke and Danny couldn't help but wince at the tone he used. It was a neutral tone that one would normally reserve for strangers.

Tara's parents rose from their seats and Danny gulped as they stopped to stand in front of him. He had known the two adults for most of his life and he couldn't remember them ever looking so intimidating before. They were usually a pretty friendly and inviting couple. Unfortunately for Danny, he wasn't staring at the same couple but their counterparts: The strict no nonsense owner of Strong International and the head chef for a Michelin Star rated restaurant in Paris.

"Well, what do you have to say for yourself young man?" Mrs. Strong crossed her arms and leveled her hard gaze.

"Care to explain to us why we haven't heard from you in over a year?" Tara's father raised a questioning eyebrow. "Is there any particular reason that you never visit anymore or that you can't even bother to pick up a phone?"

Danny forced himself not to fidget under their stern gaze but it was a losing battle. After his talk with Bonnie's mom, he already accepted the fact that they would be less than pleased with him. The three friends grew up spending so much time in one or the other's house every week that they were practically extended family. Of course they'd be pissed at him.

"I'm not going to come up with a half-ass excuse for what I did." Danny tried to meet their eyes as best as he could. "I know that I screwed up big time and for that I really am sorry. It's not much of an apology but I swear I'll try to be much more conscious of my actions in the future."

The two parents scrutinized him for a few more seconds and shared a knowing look before turning back to him.

And to Danny's great surprise, they both smiled at him. "Apology accepted."

"J-just like that?" Danny stuttered in shock. "B-but, I….wait, huh?"

"Oh Danny, we were just messing with you." Alison walked up and gave the shocked teenager a warm hug. "Tara told us everything and how you're patching things up so I see no need to give you any more grief over this."

Danny shot Tara an alarmed look.

 _You told her everything? As in even the GHOST part? The part I specifically told you NOT to tell anyone else about?_

The blonde gave her friend an exasperated look.

 _Of course not, dummy._

Bonnie merely snickered as she caught the exchange silent exchange between them.

"Besides, I need someone to keep the testosterone flowing in this house." Jonathan patted him on the back. "I'm kind of outnumbered here. Plus, there's someone else who you need to apologize to."

As if on cue, Danny felt someone deliver a hard kick to his shin. "Ow!"

"You jerk!"

The teen turned to face his attacker while he rubbed his leg. Behind him stood a very ticked off ten year old girl who was glaring daggers at him. Her blonde hair was drawn up in a ponytail and she was still wearing her prep school uniform which consisted of a dark checkered skirt, a white button shirt, red tie and a dark red coat with the school logo on the left.

"Oh hi, Sarah," Danny tried for a smile but Tara's younger sister merely huffed and stormed passed him to join the older blonde on the couch. "Hey come on, I said I was sorry."

"You did miss out on her birthday last month." Bonnie reminded him.

"Shame on you, Danny," Tara gave him an exaggeratedly disappointed look.

Alison tapped her chin in thought before throwing him a knowing look. "I think there's one way you can make it up to her. I'm sure you know what to do, right Daniel?"

Unfortunately for him, he knew exactly what Tara's mother was referring to. "You want me to do _that_? B-but I haven't done that since she was seven! I don't even remember half of the words!"

"That's too bad." Jonathan sighed dramatically. "I'm afraid that's the only way to get into Sarah's good graces again."

The girl in question only glared at him expectantly. Bonnie and Tara were trying to hold in their snickers while Mr. and Mrs. Strong were trying to guilt trip him with their sad looks.

 _Aw, man….The things I do for these people…_

"Fine," Danny grumbled. "Give me a second."

The four of them cheered and made themselves comfortable while Sarah shifted her position on the couch to get a better view. Danny took a deep breath and racked his brain to remember the lyrics to a song he made up for a little girl who was so scared to go to the dentist for the first time. How did it go again? It went something like…

" _When I'm feeling lonely,_

 _Sad as I can be,_

 _All by myself on an uncharted island in an endless sea,_

 _What makes me happy?_

 _Fills me up with glee,_

 _Those bones in my jaw that don't have a flaw,_

 _My shiny teeth and me"_

Danny saw Mrs. Strong take out a tambourine from under the couch and started tapping it in rhythm to the song. Bonnie and Tara were also clapping along and he couldn't help feel like he'd been set up from the beginning. He mentally sighed and thought: What the heck?

" _My shiny teeth that twinkle just like the stars in space,_

 _My shiny teeth that sparkle, adding beauty to my face,_

 _My shiny teeth that glisten just like a Christmas tree,_

 _You know they walk a mile just to see me smile, Wooh!_

 _My shiny teeth and me,"_

He heard someone giggle and saw that Sarah was cheerfully bobbing her head to the song.

" _Yes they're all so perfect, so white and pearly,_

 _Brush, gargle, rinse, a couple of breath mints,_

 _My shiny teeth and me,_

 _My shiny teeth so awesome, just like my favorite song,_

 _My shiny teeth I flaws them so they grow to be real strong,_

 _My shiny teeth I love them and they all love me,_

 _Why should I talk to you when I got thirty two? Wooh!_

 _My shiny teeth and me"_

Danny then proceeded to twirl and then pose as he pointed at random directions, much to everyone's enjoyment.

" _My shiny teeth that twinkle just like the stars in space,_

 _My shiny teeth that sparkle, adding beauty to my face,_

 _My shiny teeth that glisten just like a Christmas tree,_

 _You know they walk a mile just to see me smile, Wooh!_

 _My shiny teeth and me,_

 _My shiny teeth and me,_

 _My shiny teeth and me!"_

He was met with a round of applause and laughter. The teen walked up to the youngest person in the room and raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "So am I forgiven now?"

"Maybe," Sarah attempted to look cross. However, Danny could see hints of a smile breaking through. After a few moments, her defenses started to crack and she decided to give him a brief hug. "Don't ever ignore us like that again butt-head!"

"Oh don't worry honey." Alison said. "I'm sure he's learned his lesson. Isn't that right, Clyde?"

"Indeed, Madam." The middle-aged butler walked in holding a video camera. It took the teen a second to register the fact that his whole silly song and dance number had been recorded.

"You guys suck."

The only response he received was more rounds of laughter.

* * *

Kim had lost count of how many times she groaned while burying her face in her hands. The reason for her current state of distress was none other than the couple in front of the bus singing Ninety Nine Bottles of Pop. Don't get her wrong, she loved her parents to death but couldn't they just enjoy the ride to the ski lodge in silence? No, apparently not.

"It could be worse, you know." Danny said after noticing her plight.

"How could this possibly be any worse?" Kim demanded.

"Well…"

"Danny! Are you sure you don't need to drink anything?" The loud amplified voice of Maddie Fenton blared out. "I know that you get car sick really bad on long trips and I don't want a repeat of what happened last time."

"She's right Danny!" Jack Fenton cut in over the RV's PA system. "We had to stop in a gas station so that poor Jazzy pants could change out of her vomit stained shirt! How about a song to take your mind off your car sickness? I know a great one! Ninety nine ghosts on the wall…"

He then continued to sing his own version of the song by replacing bottles with ghosts and then shooting it down.

"Oh…" Kim said, realizing what he meant by worse.

"Yeah," Danny scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "The good news is that I could always pitch myself off the mountain. Maybe even feed myself to a pack of wolves or a bear."

"Or you could jump in a frozen lake." Kim laughed a little at his weak attempt at humor and decided to meet him halfway. It helped take her mind off the fact that her parents were telling the kids in front stories about her when she was six. "You'd make a nice ice sculpture."

He chuckled in response. "At least I'd be the main attraction at parties."

Kim had no idea what happened but it was a like a switch had been flipped ever since the dance and now Danny was acting much more cheerful than before. Apparently he had patched things up with Bonnie and Tara because she'd found the three of them sitting together at lunch the other day. In fact everyone was pretty surprised by the change. He wasn't as aloof as before and was actually pretty funny when he wanted to be. She'd gotten to know him a little better during their tutoring sessions and they had built up a friendship of sorts.

Unfortunately for Kim, their playful banter was ruined by Bonnie's complaints.

"Remind me again why we have to sit in the back with her." She said, giving Kim an annoyed look.

"Believe me Bon-Bon, I don't like it either." The red-head shot back. "You're not exactly Miss Congeniality even during the best of times."

Lightning could have erupted from both of their eyes as the two glared at each other. It had been Bonnie who called her parents and invited them to be the school trip chaperones along with the Fentons who had volunteered. Currently, she was at the very top of her least favorite person list. In fact, she was the list.

Danny was unlucky enough to be sat in between the two girls and could only glance from one to the other awkwardly. Ron was too engrossed in the newspaper he brought to pay attention to anything else and Tara was simply filing her nails to pass the time. The five of them had been the last to board the bus which led them to sit together at the very back.

"Check this out KP!" Ron all but shoved the newspaper in her face. "They're offering a reward for anyone who could snap a clear photo of the snow beast! Five thousand dollars, can you believe it?"

"I can't believe you're stupid enough to buy into that crap Stoppable." Bonnie scoffed.

"Leave him alone Bonnie." Kim growled. "Unlike some, he doesn't spend every single waking moment tormenting someone else."

"Which reminds me," The tan girl smirked. "Mrs. Possible, can you tell us a story about Kim on one of your family trips?"

"You little bi—,"

"Sure thing Bonnie," Anne replied enthusiastically. "You should have seen Kim on one of our trips to the beach. She was so adorable in…"

Mom then launched into a graphic story and Kim knew there was no stopping her. The rest of the trip passed by in total humiliation as the school bus nearly shook with laughter. Danny gave her a sympathetic pat on the shoulder while she contemplated on jumping out the window and burying her head in the snow to drown out the amount of mortification she felt.

Thankfully, they had made it to the lodge just before her Dad could tell another narrative.

"Alright, everyone make sure you don't leave any of your personal belongings on the bus." James Possible announced as they started exiting the vehicle. Everyone gathered up their luggage and started making their way inside, except for two people.

"See you later KP!" Ron hefted his bag on his shoulders and followed Mr. Barkin into the mountains.

"Wow, even Mr. B wants a shot at that five grand." Danny said.

"Yeah, I guess so." Kim sighed. "Now I've got to do damage control all by myself."

"Welcome to the club, fellow outcast."

"Danny there you are!" A giant of a man came up from behind and heartily slapped his son on the back. "Here you forgot your Fenton thermal jacket! It helps fight against the chill and even has a built in specter deflector."

Kim had to fight back a snicker as his dad held up the jacket. It was made up of bright orange material and stitched on the front was a large face of Jack Fenton. She couldn't blame Danny at all for looking at the offending piece of clothing warily. Little did she know that it was for different a reason.

"Uh, thanks dad but I think I'm fine with this one." Danny said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "So where's mom?"

"She went ahead inside to catch up with Bonnie and Tara." Jack answered. "Are you sure you won't need this?"

"Positive." Danny said a little too quickly. "Maybe we should head inside too. I think they serve some hot fudge here."

Jack was gone as soon as he heard the word fudge. Kim was a bit astounded. For a man his size, he could move pretty fast when he wanted to.

"So this is the outcast club, huh?" Kim smirked teasingly.

"Yep, it doesn't get any better than this." Danny said with mock gusto.

Kim rolled her eyes at his antics before leading them to the lodge. The main lobby was warm and decorated like a huge log cabin. A large fireplace stood near the reception area where most of their classmates were queued for their room assignments. Over in the corner, she saw a pretty woman in a hazmat suit and jacket chatting with Bonnie and Tara. She could only assume that the woman was Danny's mother, Maddie Fenton.

Luckily, she failed to spot her own parents in the crowd of students which means she was safe for now.

"Hey, Danny we should probably get our room keys…" Whatever she was about to say trailed off as she was caught off guard by the expression he was making.

Danny looked absolutely murderous and for some reason it sent a chill up her spine. His fists were clenched at his side and his scowl was so fierce that it was actually a terrifying thing to behold if she were to be honest. What's gotten into him all of a sudden?

"Well, isn't this a pleasant surprise." A smooth and silky voice spoke up from behind them.

"Pleasant isn't exactly the word I'd use." Danny growled as he turned to face the man. "But it's a surprise alright."

The man only smiled at him. He was a few inches taller than Danny and he wore his nearly white hair in a neat ponytail. His beard was trimmed short and it was clear by the way he dressed that he was a man who wasn't shy with his wealth. It took a moment for Kim to recognize him due to the fact that she'd only seen him once in a magazine featuring the extremely rich and famous.

"Good to see you again, Daniel." Vlad Masters grinned patronizingly down at the raven-haired teen. "How's life been treating you?"

* * *

 **And cut! Sorry but I gotta stop it here. I decided that I wanted this to be a more lighthearted chapter so I'll save the more serious parts for later. I've read a couple of fics where Danny is portrayed as Chip Skylark and I couldn't resist writing it myself. So tell me what you think and as always leave a review! Oh and Happy New Year guys!**


	6. Small Talk

**Whoo! Alright let's continue with where we left off! I don't own KP or DP.**

* * *

Was it too much to ask for a nice and quiet weekend that did not involve ghosts for once? He may have patched things up with his two friends but that didn't mean that the ghost attacks have stopped. In fact, they've only gotten worse ever since the Lunch Lady fiasco and now he had to work twice as hard to catch them. Having Bonnie and Tara cover for him at school helped lighten his load a bit but he was still behind on his school work thanks to his increased late night activities.

And now, Vlad Masters of all people shows up and if his past experiences with the older half-ghost proved anything, it was the fact that the billionaire always had an ulterior motive.

Well, this trip was ruined.

"What are you doing here?" Danny was barely able to keep his tone civil as he spoke. He didn't want to cause a scene, especially with Kim standing next to him.

Vlad merely smiled. "Believe it or not Daniel, but even I have to take breaks now and again. And what better way to spend the weekend than a stay at an excellent lodge up in the mountains?"

The man's attention then turned to Kim, who looked visibly uncomfortable as she felt left out of the conversation.

"Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend, Daniel?" Vlad asked. "It's quite rude to ignore a lady after all."

"Kim, this is Vlad Masters, he was a friend of my dad's from college." A hint of venom slipped out when he said the word friend. Danny was the only one who knew of the fact that Vlad had tried to kill his father on more than one occasion in order to get to him and his mother.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Masters." Kim shook the man's hand.

Vlad gave her a gentle smile. "Oh no my dear, the pleasure is mine. I've read tabloids of your many exploits and I must say I am quite impressed. Not many people can do what you do. To meet you here in person is indeed a wonderful surprise."

"It's no big." Kim waved off the compliments but Danny could tell that she was pleased if the tint of pink on her cheeks was anything to go by.

Danny hated to admit it but Vlad could be charismatic when he wanted to be. He fell for the same act when they first met in Wisconsin. He plays up the generous billionaire angle so well that you'd think that all he ever did was donate money for kitten charity or something.

"I think I'll go get my room assignment and let you two catch up." Kim said, oblivious to any tension between the two. "I'll see you later Danny."

"So that was the world famous teen hero." Vlad remarked once the red-head was out of hearing range. "I must say that I find myself a bit underwhelmed. Perhaps if she wasn't so naïve, she would make an excellent subordinate wouldn't you agree, Daniel?"

"If she knew who you really were, I doubt she'd want to be anywhere near you." Danny replied, glaring at the man. "Now can we cut the bullshit already and get to the point? Why are you really here, Plasmius?"

Vlad's smile turned a bit sinister at the mention of his alter-ego. "You're as crass and short-tempered as always, I see. Do you honestly think I'd just up and tell you what I'm after? Come now, you're better than that. I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out sooner or later."

"I could always just beat the answer out of you." Danny mentioned, his eyes flashing bright green for a moment.

Vlad's eyes turned blood red in response. "I'd like to see you try. After all, I'm curious to see how you've progressed since our last encounter. So go ahead, Daniel, throw the first punch. However, I must ask you to not hold me responsible if anything…unpleasant happens in the midst of our battle."

The older man glanced to the side where Bonnie and Tara were chatting with his mom.

"Don't even think about dragging them into this Vlad." Danny snarled as his fists shook at his sides. He knew that the man wouldn't hesitate to use any means necessary to win even if it meant putting innocent people in harm's way.

"I wouldn't dream of it, Daniel." Vlad said sarcastically. He placed a hand on Danny's shoulder and leaned in to whisper. "But if you test my patience, I just might pay your little friends a visit. Tell me, do they know what it feels like to be overshadowed by a ghost? Many people are known for meeting their end in fatal accidents in the mountains, after all."

 _This conniving son of a bitch…_

The man smirked in satisfaction as he saw the look of fury on Danny's face. "I'm glad we've come to an understanding. Now if I were you I'd wipe that glare you're giving me off because your bumbling oaf of a father is coming over."

"Hey, look who it is!" Jack walked up to them. "I didn't expect to see you here V-man!"

"Oh you know how it is, Jack." Vlad plastered on a fake smile. "Apparently I'm all work and no play but I've decided to change that for now. What's the point of having all that money if you don't splurge a little, am I right?"

Jack let out a booming laughter that gained the attention of several guests. "That's true. We haven't seen you since the reunion! It's about time you left that castle of yours."

Vlad forced a mild chuckle. "Indeed, in fact I was just on my way to my room when I ran into young Daniel here. He and I were just catching up."

"Yeah, Uncle Vlad here was just asking me to show him around." Danny said after being struck with an idea. He threw a smirk at the white-haired billionaire before acting disappointed. "I really wish I could but I still have to get my room assignments and I promised Bonnie and Tara that we'd head up the mountain as soon as we checked in. Maybe you could show him around instead, dad."

Vlad's eyebrow twitched in annoyance as he threw a quick glare in Danny's direction. If there was anything that drove the man up the wall, it was spending time with Jack Fenton. It was petty revenge sure, but the teen would take what he could get.

"That's a great idea Danny!" Jack said before enthusiastically, giving Vlad a hard slap on the back that nearly made him stumble. "You're going to love this place V-man! Come on, I'll show you where they serve the fudge."

The white-haired billionaire tried for a smile and instead looked like he had just swallowed something really disgusting. Vlad gave him the stink eye as Jack led him to the snack bar. Danny only grinned and waved just as they disappeared down the hall.

Danny's mocking grin was soon replaced by a thoughtful frown. There was no chance in hell that it was mere coincidence that Vlad was here. He never did anything without a reason or at least something that would benefit him in some way. He needed to find out soon or else it would probably be too late.

"There you are!" Bonnie smacked him on the arm, shaking him from his thoughts. "Come on, Tara's getting impatient and frankly, so am I. I want to see if I can squeeze out one more embarrassing story out of Kim's mom before we go skiing."

"Yeah, alright," Danny agreed as the two fell in line to get their room keys.

Bonnie studied him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Danny said, but she didn't look convinced so he added. "I'll tell you both later."

* * *

Ron was panting as he followed Mr. Barkin up the mountain. Trudging through the thick snow while he carried his large backpack was starting to take its toll. In hindsight, he should have dropped his stuff off back at the lodge before taking a hike. But alas, the promise of five thousand dollars had blinded him.

Curse you greed.

"Can't we…get some… snow mobiles or something?" Ron asked between his heavy breaths. "Or maybe we could get some…whew…alpacas to carry us there?"

"Man up Stoppable!" Mr. Barkin told him. "You want that reward money then you've got to earn it."

"I'm starting to want it less and less." Ron muttered. He could be sipping some hot cocoa or shredding downhill right now. He probably wouldn't have minded as much if he didn't have a drill sergeant as company.

Rufus poked his head out of his pocket and chattered something that sounded like a complaint. The little guy must have been freezing.

"Stay strong buddy." The blond patted him on the head.

"Let's see some hustle, Stoppable!"

Ron sighed and picked up his pace in order to catch up with the large teacher. There had better be a snow monster up here for this to be worth it or else he was writing that newspaper a really angry letter. Man, what he would give for an alpaca right now.

* * *

"Care to tell us why you dragged us into your parents' weird RV?" Bonnie crossed her arms as she watched Danny punch in the access code to open a panel that held an array of equipment.

"No offense Danny, but it's kind of a mess in here." Tara scrunched up her nose as she picked up a discarded candy wrapper. "When was the last time your dad cleaned this thing?"

However, the raven-haired teen ignored them as he took down something from the wall. They looked like two metallic belts that had green circuits running through it. Danny held one out for each of them.

"I need you two to wear these." Danny said, showed the belts. "At least until this trip is over. Don't take them off for any reason unless you have to or when I say it's safe."

Bonnie put her hands on her hips. "Listen, I'm not doing anything until you tell us why you're acting paranoid all of a sudden. So spill it, Fenton."

"Remember what I told you about me being a half-ghost?" Danny asked, to which they nodded. "Well, I'm not exactly the only one…"

He then launched into the tale of how he'd encountered Vlad back in Wisconsin during his parents' college reunion. Apparently, it had only been an excuse to lure Danny's father so that Plasmius could get revenge for accidentally turning him into a ghost when they were attempting to build the portal for the first time. Danny had been able to beat him by threatening to reveal both of their identities and the two had come to a sort of truce.

Bonnie and Tara sat there and took some time to process everything they had just been told.

"I knew there was something wrong with that man." Tara shivered. "I met him once during a charity ball dad took us to. He tried talking my dad into signing a deal with his company and when daddy refused, there was a moment that I thought his eyes changed color. It was so freaky."

"No kidding." Bonnie frowned. "I also can't believe he's so fixated on your mom and that he's willing to kill your dad to get to you and her. What a nut job."

"Vlad's got more than a few screws loose for sure." Danny said. "But he's had more time to master his powers and he's also pretty cunning. The only reason I survived our first encounter was because the ghost of the Dairy King helped me escape. If he hadn't shown up when he did..."

Bonnie shuddered to think about what would have happened to her best friend.

"The bottom line is, he's dangerous." Danny handed them the belts. "So while he's here, I'm not taking any chances. If he tries anything, these Specter Deflectors will protect you. As long as you wear them, no ghost will be able to touch you without getting zapped. Please, trust me on this."

Bonnie accepted one while Tara took the other. She might have been hesitant at first but seeing the look in Danny's eyes gave her pause. She'd never heard him sound so agitated before and the way he was so eager to keep them safe touched her. Ever since they were little, he had always looked out for them by fending off bullies that teased Tara and her. Now, years later, a crazed fruit loop with ghost powers was after him and yet here he was thinking about them first instead of his own safety. How could she doubt him?

"We trust you Danny." Bonnie said, giving his hand a squeeze. "Don't worry, we won't take it off unless you give us the go ahead."

He gave her a grateful smile.

"You know, they're actually kind of stylish." Tara said, putting her belt on and admiring it. "I have a blouse back home that would go perfectly with this."

Danny chuckled. "Good to know. Come on, let's head back. It's been a while since I've snowboarded and I can't wait to kick both your asses down the mountain again."

"Last time was a draw and you know it!" Bonnie argued.

"I'll have you both know that I've been practicing." Tara claimed proudly. "I'm not face planting again."

"Well ladies, care to see who the true ruler of the mountain is?" Danny challenged.

The two girls shared a smirk. "You're on."

* * *

Kim stormed out of the lobby in sheer frustration. She'd once again failed in her efforts to minimize her embarrassment and decided that she needed to get away from her parents for a while. If she had to hear another story about her stripping on the front lawn when she was two years old, Kim would lose it. The only consolation she received was that Bonnie wasn't around to document her humiliation like she said she would.

She made her way onto the large front porch that the lodge had converted into a dining area where you had a great view of the mountains. She found an empty table at the far side and sat down. The crisp mountain air helped ease some of her agitation. A couple of her classmates snickered when they passed her table and Kim could only groan as her forehead landed on the table.

By the time they got back to school after this trip, she'd need to find a paper bag to wear over her face.

It made her wonder how Danny was able to bear with his parents' antics. He was hardly fazed when he had walked into a net trap that the Fentons had set up in one of the hallways and ended up having to shower him with the same green goop that they used during the ghost attack at school. He brushed off their apologies easily, assuring them that it was fine while ignoring the stares and murmurs thrown his way.

Perhaps it was because of his time spent being shunned and ignored for a whole year that gave him thicker skin when it came to rumors and the occasional insult towards him. Kim could tell that he only acted bothered and embarrassed in order to help make her feel like someone else was sharing the same boat as her. Whatever the case, she was grateful to him because of it.

"Experiencing some teenage troubles, Miss Possible?"

Kim was a bit startled by the sudden appearance of Vlad Masters standing in front of her table.

"May I?" The man gestured to the empty chair.

"Oh of course," Kim nodded as she straightened up.

The billionaire gave her a gracious smile. "Thank you. I suppose that misery does indeed love company."

"Is it that obvious?" Kim asked.

Mr. Master gave a slight chuckle at that. "My dear, it is quite apparent if you ask me but don't worry, I won't pry any further. All I ask in return is to please inform me if you ever happen to spot my…overly enthusiastic friend heading my way."

"You mean Mr. Fenton? Why?"

The man gave her a tired smile. "Jack can get a little carried away at times. I don't know where he gets that boundless energy from but unfortunately, I'm not as young as I used to be and it is quite hard to keep up."

"That's true," Kim let out a small laugh but then hastily added. "I meant Mr. Fenton having a lot of energy, not the part about you being old."

"No harm done." Mr. Masters waved it off in good nature. "It's the hair isn't it?"

Kim nodded. "Maybe you could dye it black?"

Before long, the two of them had settled into an easy and polite conversation. They didn't touch on any personal topics and focused on the simple matters such as her school and Mr. Master's job. He seemed pretty interested in her hero work but then again, many people were. At first, they couldn't believe that a regular high school cheerleader would be traveling the world and stopping mad scientists during her spare time.

"You managed to save the whole village from the flood?" Mr. Masters asked after she had finished recounting one of her missions. "And yet you still made it back home in time for your ten o'clock curfew?"

"It was no big and I still got scolded a bit for almost missing it." Kim said modestly.

"Parents will be parents." Mr. Masters replied.

The two of them then settled into an awkward silence. The billionaire took a sip of his steaming mug of coffee that he had ordered for the both of them. She had tried to refuse but he had insisted. At least it helped fight the chill.

The silence persisted for a few more minutes until Kim decided to break it.

"Mr. Masters, can I ask you something?" Kim began.

The man raised an eyebrow. "You just did but go ahead."

"Why is Danny mad at you?"

Earlier in the lobby, she had noticed the tightness in Danny's voice when he addressed the older man. He had tried to hide it but the hard look in his eyes spoke otherwise. Vlad had seemed unfazed by it or perhaps he just hid it better than Danny did but it was there. It was at that point that she had decided to excuse herself.

"Ah, you caught on to that, did you?" Vlad looked a bit disappointed when he said that. "It's nothing to worry about my dear, I assure you. It's just that me and Daniel had a little…disagreement of sorts during our last meeting and it seems he still holds a grudge."

"What was it about?" She mentally slapped herself. She didn't have any business butting into other people's personal affairs. He had been polite enough not to ask about hers and here she was doing the exact opposite. Way to go Kim. "On second thought, forget I asked."

"No it's fine." Vlad sighed morosely. "I can't say I blame Daniel for acting the way he did. You see, his parents and I have a history together. We were pretty close back in college and loathe as I am to admit but I had been infatuated with Maddie at the time. Perhaps it was partly my fault. I might have acted more friendly than I should have back during our college reunion. Danny must have caught wind of my past feelings from the stories being thrown around that night and came to the wrong conclusion."

Kim didn't know how to respond to that. She had to take a second to process everything he had just said but now that she thought about it, it did start to make sense. She didn't know Danny's side of the story yet but she understood the gist of it. Honestly, their whole argument was just a big misunderstanding. If Kim had been in Danny's position, she might have also acted pretty defensively if someone other than her dad tried to hit on her mom. But she also couldn't blame Vlad either. Sure he might have had a thing for her back then but he wasn't actively flirting with her was he?

"I'm sure the two of you can work it out eventually." Kim assured him. "Danny's a reasonable guy. I'm sure if the two of you would just talk then the problem will fix itself."

"You sound so sure." Vlad took another sip of his coffee. "I thank you for your input Miss Possible and perhaps I will try to make amends like you said. Hopefully Daniel is willing to listen."

Kim was about to say more when she spotted someone exiting the lobby and onto the porch. "Umm, Mr. Masters, remember that thing you told me about?"

He caught her meaningful look and his eyes widened. "Oh well look at the time, I believe I must be off. Enjoy the rest of your school trip Miss Possible. It was a pleasure. "

"I hope you do too, Mr. Masters." Kim said, as he stood to leave. "Good luck with Danny."

The man nodded. He didn't get very far when he stopped and said. "Oh and Miss Possible, before I go I wish to offer you some advice of my own. I read about the ghost attack at your school and I recommend caution in the future. Spectral beings are not trivial opponents and they are very cunning and deceitful. Do not under any circumstances trust a ghost, no matter what shape and size."

Kim frowned. "Why do you say that?"

"I told you that the Fentons and I had been very close back in our college years. Together, the three of us devoted most of our time studying these beings. I may have slacked off in my research nowadays in favor of business but I still consider myself an expert on the subject. Ghosts are the manifestations of their earthly attachments and desires which are called their obsessions. They will do everything in their power to acquire it. Without it, they will cease to exist. Bear that in mind the next time you cross paths with them."

Before Kim could ponder too deeply about what he said, a booming voice cut through the chatter of the other guests. "Vladdie my man, there you are!"

Needles to say, Mr. Masters booked it out of there with Jack Fenton hot in pursuit.

Chatting with the man had been a nice distraction. She had almost forgotten the situation with her parents and the fact that her best friend had ditched her to hunt some snow beast. Come to think if it, that had been hours ago. Maybe she should go see if Ron had made it back yet.

"KIM!"

Speak of the devil. Her best friend burst onto the porch like a madman and nearly tripped over himself when he ran over to her table. He was panting heavily as he rested his hands on his knees.

"You're….not…believe…..huge…..whew….want….alpaca…next time."

"Take it easy there Ron." Kim asked a nearby waiter if she could get a glass of water. "What happened? Did you find your snow monster?"

Ron opened his mouth to reply but he was abruptly cut off by an inhuman sound that made everyone freeze.

 _ROOOAAAARRR!_

"Yeah, funny you should mention that."

* * *

 **And done! Man I'm really sorry for the long wait but my schedule's pretty crazy and this is the first time in a while that both my mood and** **my time to write were in perfect harmony. Nothing major happened in this chapter but boy it is fun to write Vlad. Hope you enjoyed this chapter nonetheless. As always tell me what you think and until next time! Peace!**


	7. Tussle In The Snow

**Man, it's good to be back! Let's get this train chugging along. I know it's been more than a year since I last updated and for that I truly apologize. Sorry for the wait but unfortunately my life takes priority. I write purely because I enjoy doing so but I will not let it take priority over my life so again I apologize but that's how things are.**

* * *

Bonnie spat out a few flecks of snow from her mouth as she sat up. "I call for a rematch!"

Danny groaned beside her. "Well, maybe if you hadn't tried to cheat by crashing into me, then we both wouldn't have face-planted."

"The sun was in my eye and you were in the way!" She argued back.

"I call bullshit on that." Danny got up and started dusting off all the snow from his jacket. "We were wearing goggles for a reason and admit it, you knew I was winning."

She accepted his outstretched hand as he pulled her back on her feet. "You wish, Fenton."

A little ways from them, Tara was too busy doing her own victory dance. Okay, Bonnie might have gotten a little aggressive towards the end of their little race and may or may not have intentionally tried to push Danny off balance. The end result was both of them crashing into the snow in a less than spectacular fashion and Tara inevitably winning.

The blonde girl in question ran up to them with skis in hand. She held up one hand to her ear. "Who's the queen of the mountain?"

"You are." Bonnie and Danny answered monotonously.

"I'm sorry I couldn't quite hear that. Who's the queen of the mountain?"

"You are." The two answered with as much enthusiasm as the first time they said it.

"You're damn right it is!" Tara proclaimed proudly.

Bonnie couldn't help but challenge. "Best two out of three."

"Come on, Bon-Bon, you seriously want to lose two times in a row?" Danny teased with a smirk.

"Look who's talking." Bonnie shot back.

"Ladies and gentlemen please, there's no need for such uncivilized words here." Tara got in between them. "Because we all know that there is only one true winner here…and it's obviously me."

"Is that right?" Danny said, sending Bonnie a mischievous wink. He then proceeded to make a big show of bowing. "Forgive me my queen for I am but a humble peasant in your presence."

"Her majesty truly is powerful in the ways of skiing." Bonnie followed suit in an exaggerated curtsy.

"I could get used to this." Tara smiled and snapped her fingers haughtily. "Come my servants, thy queen needs refreshments."

"Yes, your majesty."

As quick as a cobra, the two friends lunged at the unsuspecting blonde and lifted her off her feet.

"Hey, what're you doing?!" Tara shrieked in surprise as the two started to carry her off.

"Why, we're obeying her highness' command." Bonnie smiled a little too sweetly.

"Mutiny! This is high treason! Unhand me at once!"

"If it is what my queen wants." Danny said. The two of them stopped at a nearby mound of snow and tossed the girl unceremoniously into it. The girl squealed as she sunk into the snow.

"Is her highness refreshed now?" Bonnie mocked before bursting into laughter along with Danny. However, it was cut short as a snowball smashed into her face. She rubbed her face to see Tara bending over to cup more snow into her hand and hefting it at Danny who was smart enough to duck.

 _Oh it is on…_

She quickly crouched down and gathered a handful of snow. Tara saw what she was doing and hastily followed suit but before the two of them could finish molding their snowballs, they each received one to the face courtesy of Danny. Bonnie wiped her face before hefting her own at the raven-haired teen that hit him square on the forehead.

Before long, handfuls of snow began to fly through the air as the three engaged in an all out snowball fight. They laughed and taunted each other. Bonnie didn't care about the odd looks they received from the other students. She was too busy having fun with her two best friends.

Sadly, their game came to an end as an unearthly roar cut through all other sounds in the vicinity. Everyone froze in their tracks as they tried to comprehend what they had just heard. Off to the side, she saw Danny exhale a rather large amount of mist and she already knew the cause before Jack and Maddie Fenton even rushed out into the open with their equipment.

"Ghost!" Jack exclaimed while hefting his bazooka weapon.

The two girls turned to Danny but to their surprise, he had already vanished.

* * *

Perfect, as if it wasn't bad enough that Vlad was staying in the same lodge as he was but now he had to deal with whatever the hell was making all this noise. Danny sped through the forest so fast that the trees had started to blur as his ghost sense guided him towards the source of disturbance. Plasmius must be up to something. Figures, as soon as he shows up, some random ghost just happened to appear in the span of a few hours.

Coincidence? Ha, yeah right.

In any case, he could worry about the fruit loop later. Right now, he had to find this thing before it got too close to the lodge. Danny continued to fly through the trees as his ghost sense told him he was gaining on his target. However, before he could go any further, a blast of ectoplasm came from out of nowhere and blindsided him. It struck him in the back and set him tumbling into the snow.

"Well would you look at that, my prey has decided to come to me instead." A familiar mechanical voice said. Danny looked up just in time to see Skulker aiming his weapon at him. He rolled out of the way just in time as the ecto blast missed. "It must be my lucky day."

"Oh for the love of God, find some other pelt to hang on your wall." Danny said as he retaliated by sending ectoblasts of his own. Skulker tapped a button on his forearm and a shield materialized that merely absorbed his attack. "New upgrades, huh? What, did Vlad give you a promotion or something?"

"There are some perks of working under him." Skulker admitted. "Here's one example."

A small hatch opened on his shoulder and a small rocket launcher popped out. Skulker grinned as he fired his new weapon. Danny didn't waste any time as he took off into the air once more. Unfortunately for him, it seemed as if the small missile was locked onto him and was hot on his trail. The half-ghost cursed as he tried in vain to lose the small projectile. However, Danny was so focused on losing the first missile that he failed to notice the second one until it was too late.

The half-ghost screamed in pained as he was engulfed in an explosion when the two missiles hit their target. He fell back down hard onto the snowy forest floor and groaned as he tried to push himself up to his feet. Okay, that one really hurt.

A hard metal boot slammed into his back before he had any time to recover from the last attack.

"I must say that I'm quite disappointed." Skulker said, pointing an ectoplasm cannon at the back of Danny's head. "This was too easy. It's almost as if you've grown weaker since the last time we've met. You've been slacking off whelp."

"I beg to differ." Danny smirked.

Before Skulker could reply, one of Danny's duplicates phased through the ground from behind the hunter and delivered a swift ectoplasm charged fist into his face. The strength behind the blow made the mechanical ghost stagger back but another clone swooped in from the sky and gave the hunter a powerful uppercut that lifted him off the ground. Not relenting on their assault, the three Phantoms sent a combined ghost ray straight at Skulker, sending the robotic hunter crashing into a few trees.

The two duplicates vanished and Danny felt his split energy returning to him. "Ah that's better. I'm sorry, care to repeat that earlier statement, Tin man?"

Skulker merely grinned menacingly as he pushed away the log that had fallen on him. "Now that's what I'm talking about! This wouldn't be any fun if it were easy. It makes you a much more worthy prey and I only hunt the best."

"I'm flattered and all, but can we wrap this up? I have a snowboard back at the lodge and a down slope with my name on it."

"Bring it whelp!" Skulker equipped a machete onto his robotic arm charged.

Danny did the same as he coated his fists with ghostly energy. He feinted left just as his opponent attempted to gut him with the serrated machete. He also managed to duck the follow up swing and countered by throwing a vicious right hook that bounced off of Skulker's metal face. He'd managed to dent the hunter's suit a bit but Skulker was relentless. Recovering quickly, the ghost retaliated by head-butting Danny that made him take a few steps back as spots danced in his field of vision. The moment's distraction however left the young halfa open just enough for Skulker to cut him in the arm with the machete.

Danny grunted as he decided to put some distance between them. He clutched his fresh wound and judging from the amount of blood he was feeling, the cut was a bit deep. He hoped his advanced healing would be enough to cover it up until he was able to get some fresh bandages on it but he'd worry about the later.

"Looks like I drew first blood." Skulker grinned as he studied his stained weapon.

"Yeah well your forehead looks a little dented." Danny shot back as he fell into another ready stance. "I'm gonna be honest, I dig the new look. You should keep it."

"Mouthy brat, aren't you?" Skulker said. "Are we going to keep trading insults all day or are we going to kill each other?"

"Hey, it's all the same to me big guy." Danny said, hovering off the ground and preparing to fire off an ecto blast. "I've got a whole list of insults just for you pal."

He had to be smart about this. Realistically speaking, he could probably take on Skulker if he tried hard enough. In the past, he had been ill-prepared for his first encounter with the hunter and it was through sheer luck that he managed to defeat him and trap him in the thermos. He was stronger now sure and they were most likely on even footing than before but Danny couldn't afford to expend all his efforts in this fight. As much of a pain in the ass Skulker was, there was no denying that Vlad was the bigger threat between the two. He needed to end this quickly if he wanted to address the real problem.

Unfortunately, his thoughts came to a screeching halt as a snow mobile burst from the trees and landed right in the middle of the two combatants. Danny groaned as soon as he saw who the driver of the said vehicle was and he suppressed a groan.

Oh great, just what he needed, more complications.

Kim Possible had just entered the fray.

* * *

"Bonnie, I don't think we should be doing this." Tara glanced around the room nervously. The two teens were currently rummaging through Vlad Master's suitcases and bags.

"We can't just sit around and do nothing either." Bonnie argued, checking each pocket and stopped at one in particular. "Look, Danny's out there fighting some snow monster or whatever and we know that Vlad Masters isn't what he claims to be. He might be up to something and is trying to distract Danny so that he won't be able to figure it out. It's up to us to see if we can find out what he's after and tell Danny once he comes back."

"I know, but what if he catches us?" Tara said. "He also has ghost powers remember? What if he's invisibly watching us right now and we don't even know it?"

It was a frightening thought to be honest. Her friend certainly made a valid point. Vlad Masters could be breathing down their necks at this very second and was preparing for the right moment to strike. Still, Bonnie forged ahead and decided to trust that the Specter Deflectors Danny had given would do the trick. It wouldn't stop the man from invisibly spying on them but it would offer them limited protection from physical harm.

"Look, just keep looking." Bonnie insisted. "There must be something in here that might tell us why he came here in the first place."

"I'm sorry to disappoint you my dear."

Tara shrieked as the two girls whirled around to find Vlad himself standing just outside the door. He casually walked inside his room and took a moment to admire the interior. "Now, what would two lovely young ladies be snooping around for in a business man's room?"

Bonnie placed herself in front of Tara. If worst came to pass, she could maybe distract him while she ran for help. Problem was, he was blocking the only exit. Maybe they could scream for help?

"We know who you really are Mr. Masters and we're not afraid of you." Bonnie said, hoping that she sounded braver than she felt.

"And who would that be, Ms. Rockwaller?" Vlad tilted his head in confusion. "I'm not sure I follow."

"You're a half-ghost like Danny." Tara said albeit with a hint of trepidation. "He told us everything."

The billionaire gave off a little hum in response and merely continued his inspection of the room. Bonnie had an inkling that he already knew that they were aware of his identity and was just toying with them. Clearly, he had deemed them to be of no threat to him and it pained her to admit it but he was probably right.

"And where is our friend Daniel, hmm?" Vlad inquired. "I'm sure he wouldn't leave his two dear friends alone in such…unpleasant company."

"He's stopping whatever it is you're planning to do." Bonnie declared confidently. "And when he's done, he'll be right back to kick your ass."

Vlad chuckled in amusement. "I applaud your loyalty Ms. Rockwaller. Sadly, our little badger will have his hands full to deal with little old me and besides, it'd be such a shame to ruin the décor. I quite like this place and I'd rather not leave it in shambles over a pointless scuffle."

He turned to leave. "You're free to continue your search as long as wish my dears but please do remember to lock the door on your way out. Enjoy the rest of your weekend."

With that being said, the billionaire exited the room and it was only when his footsteps receded into silence did they release the breath they didn't know they were holding.

"Oh God, that was intense." Bonnie said as she leaned against the closest wall. She felt her heart hammering in her chest and she had to take deep breathes to steady herself. Tara was in a similar state as she had slumped to the floor.

It was crazy to think how the man's very presence intimidated her. From the moment he walked in, it felt as if he was in control of the whole situation. She'd seen the way his eyes momentarily glanced at their belts and she knew that if they hadn't been wearing them, things might have been different.

One thing was for sure, they wouldn't find anything in here. He was too confident and too cunning to leave anything incriminating just lying around.

Back to square one. She just hoped Danny was having better luck than they were.

* * *

 _Fuck my life_

This was a thought that was constantly running through his head as the fight had devolved into a messy three way between him, Skulker, and Kim. The redhead had somehow managed to snag a blaster from his parents and boy did she have good aim. If it weren't for the fact that she had to divide her attention between two opponents, he might have been riddled with holes right about now.

"You're mine whelp!"

Oh yeah, there was also the small fact that Skulker had zero interest in the redhead and was focusing all of his attacks on Danny. The only times he attacked Kim was when she had gotten in his way but other than that, he was still the main target. So it was more of a two on one in Danny's position.

And now, back to your regular scheduled program…

"Oh shit!" Danny yelped as he managed to dodge Skulker's cannons. He formed a shield to deflect the follow up blasts but he got hit from behind courtesy of Kim. "Damn it! I'm on your side here!"

"I'll be the judge of that." Kim took aim once more. "As far as I'm concerned, two ghosts are causing trouble and I'm not at all convinced that you're the good guy here. From what I've been told, ghosts aren't particularly trustworthy."

Danny growled in frustration as he dropped his shield and flew away just as Kim's ecto-blast sailed past him and hit Skulker instead. He didn't have time to relax as the redhead continued her onslaught. He sent low powered blasts in retaliation but she was nimble and was able to dodge and flip over them with ease. He hated to admit it but the girl had skills.

He just wished she wasn't using it on him.

A whistling sound came from behind and that had been his only indication to dodge as several arrows grazed him. Danny once again threw up his shields as more arrows slammed into it. Kim tried to shoot at Skulker a few times but the hunter was able to avoid them. Of course instead of shooting at his attacker, the ghost opted to continue shooting Danny.

Okay, he needed a new plan because he couldn't keep going like this. Eventually one of them was going to land a lucky blow that would injure him to the point he would be defenseless against either of the two. His focus was split and he needed to take one of them down quickly so he had one less problem to deal with. If only Kim wasn't here….

Wait a minute…

It was then that Danny was struck by a crazy idea.

Kim was thankful for the distraction. Now that she thought about it, the teen couldn't help but feel guilty over the fact that she had been relieved when trouble had come knocking. Her parents have been driving her nuts since the trip began and she needed her space, which was the main reason she jumped at the opportunity to spring into action. She had negotiated with Danny's mom into lending her an anti-ghost weapon and the woman had reluctantly agreed, giving her a small blaster the size of a handgun. She quickly commandeered one of the parked snow mobiles while the Fentons took the remaining two. The redhead had left the two ghost hunters in the dust however, as she kicked the engines into high gear and searched for the sounds of disturbance.

And now, here she was, not a few minutes later, blasting at both Phantom and some mechanical looking ghost with a flaming Mohawk. According to Ron, there was also a rampaging snow beast on the loose but she would address that problem once she finished these two ghosts. She didn't know why the two specters were fighting in the first place but she did know that they were dangerously close to the lodge.

Kim leapt from her perch as Phantom sent a blast of green ghostly energy at her that destroyed the branch she had been crouched on. She retaliated by sending blasts of her own but the mechanical ghost tackled Phantom out of the way. For some reason, the other ghost was ignoring her entirely and chose to focus all of his attacks on Phantom.

Of course, he'd been trying to convince Kim several times during their fight that he meant no harm but the redhead knew better than to trust a ghost. Sure he helped out back at their school when the Lunch Lady ghost appeared but what reason could he possibly have to be tussling with another ghost? Weren't they the same species? And now here he was again, trading blows with his own kind.

Mr. Masters said that ghosts were driven by their obsessions and they would do anything and everything for it. Was Phantom's obsession to battle other ghosts? Why?

Unfortunately, before she could ponder on it any further a powerful blast grazed her side and she was forced to tumble into the snow. Luckily it had just singed the fabric of her jacket and only inflicted a minor burn. She was surprised to find that it was the mechanical ghost who had shot at her. Up to this point, he had only been interested in Phantom. What caused this to change?

"I'm really sorry about this." A voice behind her said just before she felt the most bizarre sensation in her life. It was like she had been hit with a chilly breeze that sunk to her very bones and her mind had turned foggy. Where was she again? She had been fighting someone, hadn't she?

Kim was still dimly aware of what was happening around her. She was still being chased by the mechanical ghost and she had somehow made it back to her snowmobile and was riding it full-speed through the forest. She could feel her body moving of its own accord but it was like her mind had taken the back seat and someone else had their hands on the wheel. She knew she should have been scared that a missile nearly hit her or that she narrowly managed to avoid crashing into a tree. But it looked like the person who was controlling her body was doing an okay job so far. As long as she didn't get hurt then that was fine right?

 _Snap out of it…._

There was a nagging voice at the back of her head but it was too faint to hear. Meanwhile, her body was using the blaster to shoot the mechanical ghost who was slowly gaining on her. Wow, she was sleepy. Maybe a quick nap would….

 _Get a hold of yourself! Wake up!_

Grr, that voice was starting to get persistent. What was the voice so worried about? Look, she could see that her body had already taken out one of the mechanical ghost's jetpack engines and he had careened out of control and before long, out of sight.

Now if that voice could shut up for about a few seconds…

 _WAKE UP!_

Clarity slammed into her and the fog in her mind vanished, granting her control of her movements again. It was just in time too because she was headed straight for the rocky side of the mountain. She slammed the breaks and the snow mobile slid to stop. She had to take in large gasps of air because despite the chill, beads of sweat were running down her forehead. What the hell just happened?

Her head swiveled from side to side with her fire arm following her line of sight as she tried to spot any of the ghosts she'd just been fighting. However, after a few minutes of searching, she managed to confirm that they were gone and she was alone. Kim slumped in her seat as she felt her adrenaline levels drop and she was hit with a sudden wave of exhaustion.

Her communicator started beeping and she answered it to find Wade frantically typing into his computer. "Finally, I've been trying to contact you for the past thirty minutes but you weren't picking up! I assumed the worst but I'm glad to see you're okay."

Thirty minutes? Is that how long she'd blacked out? Her mind was still hazy on the details.

"Wade, can you retrace my location using the communicator's GPS?" Kim asked.

"Okay, give me a second." The ten year old tapped on a few keys and brought up a satellite image of the mountain side as well as dotted lines that showed her movements in one minute intervals. Based on what she saw, her location brought her approximately less than a mile from the lodge.

"You were acting kind of strange too." Wade commented, taking a sip from his soda. "I used the communicator's camera to monitor you to see what's up and you seemed less coordinated than usual."

Kim pinched the bridge of her nose and tried to make sense of everything she'd learned so far. Somehow, she'd lost all memory of the past few minutes and drove herself to back to the lodge without even meaning to. The last thing she remembered was Phantom disappearing from the fight and…

 _I'm really sorry about this._

That had been Phantom's voice she was sure of it. What on earth did he mean by that? Did he do something to her and just what exactly did he do?

Before she could delve deeper into her thoughts, the sound of engines drew closer and soon heralded the arrival of Jack and Maddie Fenton.

"I've got you now Ghost Scum!" Jack declared as he jumped off his snow mobile and aimed his bazooka at Kim.

"Stand down Jack, it's just Kim." Maddie hastily lowered her husband's weapon before he did anything hasty. She held up a scanner of some sort and waved it around the area. "Damn, the ghost signature disappeared and I thought for sure it was just here. The Fenton Finder was positive about it too but now it's faint."

The woman shook her head in disappointment before hooking the gadget to her belt. She approached Kim and proceeded to check over her. "Are you okay sweetie? Did you happen to run into any trouble?"

While she appreciated Mrs. Fenton's concern, it was unnecessary due to her lack of injuries. "I'm fine. I found two ghosts that were fighting further up the mountain. One of them was Phantom, the ghost that appeared at school the other day, and another was made of metal. I fought them for a bit but then I…wound up here."

Maddie nodded while Jack continued to fiddle with his own Fenton Finder, hopefully trying to get at least a faint ecto-signature they could follow.

"Maybe we should all head back for now, it'll start getting dark soon and ghost or no ghost it's dangerous to be roaming around at night." The ghost hunter suggested. "Besides your parents are starting to get worried. You should have at least told them where you were headed, young lady. I'd be worried too if I were them."

"Sure thing Mrs. Fenton." Kim did feel a little guilty at the mention of her parents. Here she was being thankful for the opportunity to be away from them and yet they were still obviously concerned despite her doing missions every other week.

"Oh which reminds me Jack, we should probably find Danny." Maddie told her husband. "This weekend was supposed to be about bonding with him but we've hardly seen him the whole day!"

"He was with Bonnie and Tara the last I saw him but you're right Mads." The large man said, although he did sound a bit disappointed. However, he perked up immediately as an idea struck him. "I know! Why don't we bring Danny along tomorrow when we look for the ghosts?"

Somehow, Kim doubted Danny would find the experience as enjoyable as Mr. Fenton made it out to be. From the limited amount of time they'd spent together, Danny never expressed any interest in his parents' ghost hunting career. Sure he knew a lot about ghosts, no doubt being on the receiving end of many lectures from his parents but he was mostly indifferent about the topic whenever it was brought up.

While the two ghost hunters discussed their family outing, Kim spared one more glance up the mountain. She still couldn't figure out how she had lost her memory but she was determined to find out. She was positive Phantom had done something to her. The next time she saw the ghost, they would be having words.

* * *

Danny panted in exhaustion as he slumped to his hands and knees onto the snow. He had reverted back into human form just as he had been forcefully expelled from Kim's body. Thankfully he had managed to fly further away before she could see him. His plan to overshadow Kim and use her body to get her back to safety had backfired. He'd never felt such resistance before when temporarily taking over a person. Kim had subconsciously wrestled him for control the entire time and while he had the upper-hand, it had not been easy. He could only chalk it up to the fact that she was aware of the dangers while they were fighting whereas whenever he did it to other people they were caught unprepared for the sudden intrusion.

He shook his head in amazement and couldn't help but grin a little. Kim was one tough cookie. He saw her in action for the first time up close and Danny was impressed. He shuddered to think what she could do with a better arsenal of ghost hunting gear.

Glancing up at the sky, Danny could see that the sun was beginning to dip low into the horizon and he should get back before his anyone noticed his absence. Hopefully Bonnie and Tara could stall long enough for him slip into his room. He transformed back into his ghost half and was about to fly out when something caught his eye. Deciding to take a closer look, he flew towards a particular spot that had been stained red.

It was blood. He inspected the area and saw large tracks leading deeper into the forest. The tracks were accompanied by more blood splatters as well. Come to think of it, the reason he had been out here in the first place was because he thought another ghost besides Skulker had been roaming around. He'd heard a commotion and a loud primal roar on his search earlier but he'd never found anything that caused it.

Coming to a decision, he decided to follow the blood trail. As he flew between the trees, he began to see other signs as well. Large furrows in the snow and broken branches began to accompany the blood. Now, Danny was no expert at tracking but even he could tell that something must have come through here…something big. However, he knew for certain that whatever it was, it was no ghost because they don't bleed like regular living organisms. A bear perhaps?

Danny's search came to a halt as he found the creature in question. It was a strange combination between a rabbit and a rhinoceros that lay on its side as it let out a low grumble in pain. Arrows had lodged itself in its neck and blood slowly trickled out. Perhaps the only reason it hadn't bled to death was the fact the arrows themselves were stemming the blood flow.

He cautiously approached the hybrid and made sure to appear nonthreatening as possible. The rhino/rabbit noticed his approach and growled weakly as a warning. Danny held up his hands and took another slow step forward. He waited for a reaction but when he got nothing he took another. This trend continued for another few minutes until he was within arm's reach.

"It's okay, big guy, I'm not here to hurt you." Danny spoke in what he hoped was a soothing tone. The hybrid eyed him warily for a moment.

At this point, the creature began to let out moans of pain as it tried its best to get air into its lungs Danny saw that a few of the arrows had sunken deep. He knew that if he tried to pull any of them out, it would only make things worse. Even if it didn't, he didn't have the tools or knowledge to treat wounds of that caliber. The two beings made eye contact once again and had somehow come to the same conclusion.

It was going to die…

Frustration built up inside of Danny as he could do nothing and stare at the hybrid struggling to cling onto life. But he knew it was a futile effort. Eventually it would happen, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

The rhino-rabbit's eyes locked onto him again as if trying to convey a message. The animal looked so frightened and in great pain. The creature just wanted it to end.

"I-I can't, maybe there's another way…" Danny tried to reason but even he knew what must be done. Gritting his teeth, he steeled himself for what he was about to do. He looked to the creature as if asking it for permission. It only moaned in response. Danny powered up ectoplasm in his fist. A quick blast through the chest should do it. He didn't know if it was the right way to do it or if he should aim for the head instead but he couldn't afford to lose his nerve.

With a flash of green and a final whimper, it was all silent.

"You did the right thing, Phantom."

Danny didn't even know when Skulker had appeared behind him but he couldn't find it in himself to care at the moment. "Did you do this? I'd recognize your crossbow bolts anywhere Skulker."

"Yes, before I ran into you, I had stumbled upon this creature." The hunter explained in a somewhat civil manner. "I thought it'd be interesting to add to my collection."

Danny glared at the mechanical ghost. "So why didn't you finish it off yourself? You call yourself a hunter?! You left it here to suffer!"

"Don't lecture me boy!" Skulker fired back. "I had the thing in my sights and it would have been a clean kill if it weren't for those two humans who startled it in the first place!"

Danny thought back to Mr. Barkin and Ron who had set off to find their supposed snow beast. Well, apparently they succeeded in their little task.

"My bolts missed and the creature bounded off before I could chase after it." Skulker said. "It was then that you crossed my sights and well, you know what happened after that."

"So what happens now?" Danny ignited his fists with ghost energy. "If you're looking for round two then come get some. I have a lot of pent up aggression I want to release."

Skulker actually seemed to consider it but thought better of it. "No, I've failed as a hunter today and for that, I will let you go for now ghost child. But come tomorrow, my hunt will continue."

He vanished before Danny could say anything else. With one last look towards the life he just took, he left for the lodge as well. He couldn't recall the journey back but the next thing he knew was that he had phased into his room, startling Bonnie and Tara in the process, and changed back into his human self.

"Don't do that! You nearly gave us a—," Bonnie noticed his somber expression. "Danny, are you okay?"

When he didn't answer, the two girls merely joined him on the bed as he sat with his face in his hands. The three of them sat in silence while the two tried to comfort him the best they could. To think that the day had started off so well and he had been so carefree.

The weekend at the ski lodge continued on as normal. Apparently, someone had called the authorities and reported the disturbance heard. The rangers sent some people to scout the area to make sure it was safe but found nothing of importance to show for it. Strange, Danny thought they'd at least find the body of a hulking rhino-rabbit hybrid lying around.

He'd tried to enjoy the remainder of his weekend as well but Bonnie and Tara could tell that his heart wasn't into it anymore. He'd told them what happened of course and they constantly assured him that there was nothing else he could've done differently. He felt bad for ruining what was supposed to be a fun little outing but they waved off his apologies and tried to salvage it as much as they could.

Danny was also joined by Kim on a few occasions and he was often assaulted by guilt for what he did to her. Overshadowing people was one of his least favorite powers but it was no doubt useful during some situations. He didn't enjoy manipulating other people to do his will unless absolutely necessary.

His parents had been as boisterous as ever and he humored them by going on their supposed ghost hunt through the forest. While the Fentons didn't encounter any ghosts, Danny did enjoy seeing his parents happily explaining various gadgets and weapons. He had come to the realization that he'd also been neglecting them these past couple of months and perhaps them coming to this ski trip was their way of reconnecting with him. Danny truly appreciated their efforts and he knew that if Jazz was here, she would have scolded him for being distant.

It was true that the weekend wasn't as enjoyable as he'd hoped but it wasn't a complete loss either. Speaking of which…

"I still don't understand what you hoped to achieve, Plasmius." Danny said, crossing his arms as he scrutinized the man in sitting across from him. "But just so you know, I'll figure it out eventually and I'll stop you."

"Bold claims little badger." Vlad smirked, sipping on some coffee. It was a bit early in the morning with only a few other guests at the lodge lounging around. The two halfas sat at a somewhat secluded area so that their conversation wouldn't be easily overheard. "But as your two little friends have no doubt reported to you, I have done nothing to warrant any suspicion."

"You've done nothing incriminating with witnesses around is more like it." Danny snorted. "I didn't run into Skulker here by accident and I know you guys have some sort of arrangement going on."

"He has his uses," Vlad admitted, not even bothering to hide that fact. "I'm a busy man after all, so I can't afford to run my own errands."

"And what errand is that? Capturing some sort of hybrid snow beast hiding in the mountains?"

Vlad rolled his eyes. "Oh please, Daniel, you're better than that. What could I possibly want to do with some beast?"

"The hell if I know." Danny shrugged. "I can never really tell what's going on through that crazy brain of yours. Maybe you were lonely and finally decided to take my advice to get a pet. But instead of a cat, you wanted a big fluffy rabbit-rhino thing."

"Amusing," Vlad said. He drained the last of his coffee and stood to leave, adjusting his suit. "Well, it's been fun little badger but I have places to be. Perhaps the next time we meet, I'll be able to personally assess how much you've grown."

"Whatever you say, fruit loop." Danny said as the billionaire walked off, leaving Danny to his thoughts.

There had to be some reason Plasmius had visited this exact lodge this weekend. He was a billionaire for crying out loud, he could've chosen a better place to relax than this. This lodge didn't exactly cater to the upper class but to the masses. Skulker being here was also an indication but the only thing that stood out was the snow beast he had killed. The rangers never did find the body, so maybe Vlad wanted to study it? Replicate it somehow? It was definitely a possibility but knowing the older ghost, there had to be an endgame to it.

 _It's chess Daniel, you have to think four moves ahead._

Great, he wasn't even here anymore and he could still hear him inside his head.

"Good morning sweetie!" His mom's voice broke him out of his reverie. "You're up early! Is something wrong?"

"Oh no, everything's fine." Danny forced a smile on his face. "Just felt like getting up is all."

"Where are the girls?" Maddie asked as she occupied Vlad's vacated seat.

"Ah you know how Bonnie likes to have a lie in on the weekends." Danny chuckled.

"Well, that's true." His mother agreed. "Don't even get me started on your father."

"Ugh, I think I can hear him snoring from my room."

Mother and son shared a small laugh at that. They both knew how much of a deep sleeper Jack was and nothing short of a ghost invasion or fresh fudge would get him out of bed.

"Listen, Danny." His mom's serious tone caught him off-guard. "I know that things have been rough on you this past year and please don't bother making excuses young man because I've spoken to Bonnie and Tara and they've told me a few things."

Danny tried not to look too guilty about that. He still felt bad just remembering how he had to push everyone away. His mother must have sensed his feelings as she put her hand over his in a comforting gesture.

"Now, I don't know what it is you're going through." His mother looked him straight in the eyes with as much care and devotion she could convey. "And I won't push unless you decide to tell me but if you ever need anything, don't ever hesitate to ask me or your father. We'll always be here for you Danny, whenever you need us."

Right then and there, Danny was tempted to blurt out his secret, consequences be damned. He could see just how much his actions had affected her. All the lies and excuses just seemed to pile up one after another and he was an idiot if he thought his parents wouldn't notice some of them. He was positive that they didn't know about his ghost half because he knew it would be the first thing they brought up if that were the case. But no, despite all the deception and the secrecy, along with the fact that he'd shut them just as much as Bonnie and Tara, they still loved him unconditionally.

Danny tried to swallow the lump in his throat and his next smile wasn't forced at all.

"Thanks Mom."

* * *

Vlad stepped out onto the tarmac as he approached the private jet that awaited him. He climbed up the steps to the plane and took a seat on one of the plush leather seats. He opened a bottle of brandy on the table and poured two glasses. He took one for himself and offered the other to the person sat in front of him.

"I'm terribly sorry for the accommodations." Vlad said, sampling the amber liquid. "I value my privacy, you see and I'm afraid that an individual such as yourself might draw attention."

A muffled reply was his only reply.

"Ah, of course, where are my manners? Skulker, if you would be so kind."

The mechanical ghost ripped off the tape that prevented their captive from speaking.

"Well, aren't you both such naughty boys!" A rather stout woman with black hair and a small gap in her teeth said. "Unhand me this instant! What did you do to my babies?!"

"I'm afraid letting you go isn't an option Dr. Amy Hall." Vlad said.

"How do you know me?" Dr. Amy asked. She glanced nervously between the billionaire and the ghost.

"Why do you discredit yourself Dr. Hall?" Vlad spoke in a smooth voice. "You are quite renowned in the field of Biogenetics and I was so impressed by your work that I just had to meet you in person. Tell me, Dr. Hall, have you ever considered expanding your research beyond the boundaries of what you thought was possible? Because trust me my dear, I believe you will find the results to be truly remarkable."

* * *

"Come on, Sam!" The boy tugged mercilessly on his friend's arm. "It's only for the week! The school said it would take them the same amount of time to fix the gas leak and I know for a fact that you've got nothing planned! Please, please, please!"

The raven haired goth growled. "Alright fine, just let go of me!"

"Yes! Thank you!" Tucker Foley whooped. "Don't worry going to Middleton to visit my aunt isn't going to be a complete waste. There's probably tons of stuff to do there and who knows? Maybe we'll run into Kim Possible! My cousin says he knows her!"

Sam sighed but couldn't help but smile. "Well, it sure beats having to hang around here for the rest of the week. Might be nice to get out of town for a while and see new places."

* * *

 **Done, Finally! Jeez this took a long time to write. I cannot express how sorry I am for how long I took to update but aside from the fact that my schedule does NOT give me any free time to write, I hit a mental block on this chapter because I expected this to go a whole lot differently but in my head it didn't fit as well as I thought it would. I hope this makes up for the wait but I'm a little rusty since I haven't written anything in a long time. Now, I don't know when I can update the next one but hopefully it won't be more than a year.**

 **So as always leave a review to tell me what you think.**


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